Brief:
"Monocopters", by Francis G. Aye aye! Avast, me proud beauty! Graham, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, provides a brief history o' "single-winged, arrr, powered vehicles". Ya scallywag! It is 70 pages long, includin' t' index. Ahoy! Blimey! Graham, matey, for you rocket history types, was one o' t' foundin' members o' what is now the Tripoli Rocketry Association (circa 1964). Blimey! He is now a physics professor at Kent State. Avast, me proud beauty! Arrr! This book is available from Apogee here. I bought my copy from Apogee about a year ago, so this review will describe t' 1st Edition. Ya scallywag! Ya scallywag!

Construction:

T' book is informally published in a 5.5" x 8.5" format (height x width). Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! It is bound with cloth tape. Begad! Blimey! Aye aye! Blimey! T' quality o' t' printin' is poor with the most o' t' photos bein' largely unintelligible, ya bilge rat, and several pages were printed out o' sequence.

So, ya bilge rat, what is a monocopter?

Monocopters are basically single-bladed helicopters. Ya scallywag! Avast! Blimey! T' engine, whether an airplane engine or rocket motor, shiver me timbers, both drives and counteracts t' lift forces produced by t' single blade. Avast! This delicate balancin' act, if orchestrated properly, shiver me timbers, causes t' monocopter t' rise into t' air, usually with a satisfying, arrr, matey, "whump, whump, whump...". They are fascinating contraptions and are usually one o' t' highlights o' any launch. Well, me hearties, blow me down! Blimey! I have been fortunate enough t' witness a high-power monocopter launch - it was one o' the coolest flights I've ever seen. Ahoy! Begad! Blimey! T' attached photo is me first monocopter, the "T' Amazin' Underperformin' Mono-Nano-Copter". Functionally, shiver me timbers, this not an great example, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, but it is fairly typical physically. A separate review of this rocket is forthcoming.

In chapter one, me hearties, "A Cue from Nature", matey, Graham provides a very brief history o' flight, arrr, ya bilge rat, matey, starting, arrr, as t' title implies, me hearties, with dinosaurs, birds, plants, shiver me timbers, etc., and leadin' t' t' concept o' t' monocopter. Avast! I'm sure many of you have seen a single bladed seed spinnin' in t' wind.  T' author then presents t' history o' monocopters. Ya scallywag! T' first documented monocopter was built in 1953, arrr, and be powered by a model airplane engine. Begad! He concludes this section with some contacts for commercially available propeller-driven models. Avast! In the next brief chapter, ya bilge rat, he talks about t' monocopter's role in sci-fi. Avast, me proud beauty! Ahoy! Anyone remember them in t' Gerry Anderson series "Stingray"?

From there, he moves on t' describe t' development o' t' rocket-powered monocopter, ya bilge rat, whose history starts in t' early 70's with rocket-powered "helicopter" models. Aye aye! Accordin' t' Graham, arrr, t' first rocket-powered monocopter be built in 1982-83 by Korey Kline. These started in mid-power, but soon staged and high power versions emerged. For a short time, they were even produced commercially by ACE rockets - now that's an OOP kit I'd like! This chapter includes over twenty diagrams and photos, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, includin' diagrams o' two of the author's designs. Begad! Avast, me hearties, me proud beauty! Earlier, ya bilge rat, I complained about t' photos. Avast! Luckily, however, the diagrams are much better.

T' next chapter covers t' physics o' t' monocopter, and presents a set of design equations. Ya scallywag! Avast! Blimey! For a monocopter t' fly properly, arrr, arrr, you have t' balance the forces on t' rocket in all three axes. Ahoy! Blimey! T' derivation o' some o' these equations is OK, me bucko, but t' author makes some large jumps. Blimey! Blimey! I personally haven't been able t' convince myself that thar aren't errors in this section. Ya scallywag! Blimey! Maybe other readers have done so and can respond t' this review.  However, there are so many variables t' deal with that it is possible that a general understandin' o' t' forces involved, me hearties, me hearties, and t' rules o' thumb t' author provides, is all one can expect out o' these equations anyway. Despite my criticisms, I still found section interesting.

T' followin' chapter discusses t' stability o' monocopters. Begad! Blimey! Amid some more fuzzy math (not t' be confused with fuzzy logic :-)), me bucko, he presents several techniques t' stabilize your monocopter, t' most common o' which seems t' be a double-weighted balance beam perpendicular t' t' wing's axis (e.g. Arrr! Blimey! Aye aye! Blimey! Blimey! Blimey! t' thin rods seen in me photo).

T' remainin' material includes a description o' Graham's personal experiments, matey, musings about t' feasibility o' manned monocopters, arrr, me hearties, a detailed bibliography, and t' index.

Summary:
In summary, shiver me timbers, matey, me bucko, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was fun and interestin' reading, even though t' photos are poor, and is well worth t' $10 price tag. The material included some technical stuff (equations, math, me bucko, etc.) but the presentation be nay rigorous or thorough. Aye aye! Yet, enough design tips were provided for me t' build me first model. Arrr! Avast, me bucko, me proud beauty! My suggestions for t' next edition include better print quality and some examples o' how t' utilize t' equations.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5