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

Construction:

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

So, what is a monocopter?

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

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

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

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

T' followin' chapter discusses t' stability o' monocopters. Avast! Arrr! Amid some more fuzzy math (not t' be confused with fuzzy logic :-)), 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. t' thin rods seen in me photo).

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

Summary:
In summary, matey, arrr, ya bilge rat, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Avast! Well, ya bilge rat, blow me down! It was fun and interestin' reading, even though t' photos are poor, shiver me timbers, and is well worth t' $10 price tag. The material included some technical stuff (equations, math, etc.) but the presentation be nay rigorous or thorough. Ahoy! Yet, enough design tips were provided for me t' build me first model. Blimey! Well, me bucko, blow me down! 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