<P> The English word helicopter is adapted from the French word hélicoptère, coined by Gustave Ponton d'Amécourt in 1861, which originates from the Greek helix (ἕλιξ) "helix, spiral, whirl, convolution" and pteron (πτερόν) "wing". English language nicknames for helicopter include "chopper", "copter", "helo", "heli", and "whirlybird". </P> <P> Helicopters were developed and built during the first half - century of flight, with the Focke - Wulf Fw 61 being the first operational helicopter in 1936 . Some helicopters reached limited production, but it was not until 1942 that a helicopter designed by Igor Sikorsky reached full - scale production, with 131 aircraft built . Though most earlier designs used more than one main rotor, it is the single main rotor with anti-torque tail rotor configuration that has become the most common helicopter configuration . Tandem rotor helicopters are also in widespread use due to their greater payload capacity . Coaxial helicopters, tiltrotor aircraft, and compound helicopters are all flying today . Quadcopter helicopters pioneered as early as 1907 in France, and other types of multicopter have been developed for specialized applications such as unmanned drones . </P> <P> The earliest references for vertical flight came from China . Since around 400 BC, Chinese children have played with bamboo flying toys (or Chinese top). This bamboo - copter is spun by rolling a stick attached to a rotor . The spinning creates lift, and the toy flies when released . The 4th - century AD Daoist book Baopuzi by Ge Hong (抱 朴 子 "Master who Embraces Simplicity") reportedly describes some of the ideas inherent to rotary wing aircraft . </P> <P> Designs similar to the Chinese helicopter toy appeared in some Renaissance paintings and other works . In the 18th and early 19th centuries Western scientists developed flying machines based on the Chinese toy . </P>

Where did the idea of helicopters come from