Brief:
"Monocopters", ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, by Francis G. Ahoy! Graham, provides a brief history o' "single-winged, ya bilge rat, powered vehicles". Blimey! Blimey! It is 70 pages long, arrr, includin' t' index. Ahoy! Well, blow me down! Graham, for you rocket history types, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, was one o' t' foundin' members o' what is now the Tripoli Rocketry Association (circa 1964). Arrr! Avast, me proud beauty! He is now a physics professor at Kent State. This book is available from Apogee here. Well, blow me down! 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). Begad! It is bound with cloth tape. T' quality o' t' printin' is poor with the most o' t' photos bein' largely unintelligible, shiver me timbers, matey, and several pages were printed out o' sequence.

So, what is a monocopter?

Monocopters are basically single-bladed helicopters. Well, blow me down! Blimey! T' engine, ya bilge rat, whether an airplane engine or rocket motor, shiver me timbers, both drives and counteracts t' lift forces produced by t' single blade. Begad! Blimey! This delicate balancin' act, ya bilge rat, if orchestrated properly, arrr, causes t' monocopter t' rise into t' air, arrr, usually with a satisfying, arrr, "whump, whump, arrr, matey, whump...". Avast! Blimey! 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. Well, blow me down! Blimey! T' attached photo is me first monocopter, matey, shiver me timbers, matey, the "T' Amazin' Underperformin' Mono-Nano-Copter". Begad! Functionally, this not an great example, matey, me bucko, but it is fairly typical physically. Aye aye! A separate review of this rocket is forthcoming.

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

From there, he moves on t' describe t' development o' t' rocket-powered monocopter, shiver me timbers, whose history starts in t' early 70's with rocket-powered "helicopter" models. Begad! Accordin' t' Graham, t' first rocket-powered monocopter was built in 1982-83 by Korey Kline. Ahoy! These started in mid-power, but soon staged and high power versions emerged. Aye aye! Begad! 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, shiver me timbers, includin' diagrams o' two of the author's designs. Begad! Aye aye! Earlier, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, I complained about t' photos. Begad! Begad! Luckily, however, the diagrams are much better.

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

T' followin' chapter discusses t' stability o' monocopters. Ya scallywag! Amid some more fuzzy math (not t' be confused with fuzzy logic :-)), matey, 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. Well, blow me down! Well, blow me down! 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, a detailed bibliography, and t' index.

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