Transportation Gallery

Search And Destroy

The second wave of combat helicopters of the 1st Air Cavalry Division fly over an RTO and his commander on an isolated landing zone during Operation Pershing, a search and destroy mission on the Bong Son Plain and An Lao Valley of South Vietnam, during the Vietnam War. The two American soldiers are waiting for the second wave to come in. (Photo by Patrick Christain/Getty Images)

Stephensons Rocket 1829

Stephenson's Rocket, coloured historical artwork. Stephenson's Steam Locomotive, patented in 1829, competed in trials held by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company at Rainhill. It completed 20 laps of the course and attained a top speed of 38 kilometres per hour.It was the only locomotive to sucessfully complete the trials and won the competition. New features in its design included a multi-tube boiler with 25 copper tubes and a blast pipe to increase the efficiency of the boiler. The Rocket was designed by George Stephenson and his son Robert, with the assistance of Henry Booth

© Sheila Terry

Da Vincis helicopter

First helicopter design. Helicopter designed and drawn by the Italian inventor Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) in about 1500. This was the first helicopter designed to lift a person. The helical rotor was to be driven by the muscular power of the pilot. This meant that the helicopter would not have had enough power to take off. Leonardo devoted many years of research into studying flight and designing potential aircraft. Like many of his projects, the design was never published and the helicopter was never actually constructed. After Leonardo's death his notes lay unnoticed in a library until 1796. Successful helicopters were not developed until the 20th century

© Sheila Terry/Science Photo Library