AMAZING RARE BOOK- BLEECKER FAMILY HISTORY-NJ 1658-1990 HELICOPTER INVENTOR, PLANES, ALL WARS, FABULOUS STORY Start Price USD 89.99 Current Price USD 89.99 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Thursday, November 20, 2008 End Time Thursday, November 27, 2008 Location Bloomingdale, New Jersey See more about 'AMAZING RARE BOOK- BLEECKER FAMILY HISTORY-NJ 1658-1990' Description Give the gift of imagination this holiday season! DESCRIPTION - AN AMAZING BOOK! WHETHER YOU'RE INTERESTED IN THIS PARTICULAR FAMILY, THE STORY OF AN OLD AMERICAN FAMILY IN GENERAL, ALL OF THE WARS FOUGHT BY THIS COUNTRY, AVIATION, NEW JERSEY HISTORY.....THIS BOOK HAS SOMETHING IN IT FOR JUST ABOUT EVERYONE! I WISH I HAD TIME TO READ ALL OF IT BUT JUST FLIPPING THROUGH IT HAD ME LOST FOR HOURS IN SEVERAL STORIES. I'LL DO MY BEST TO GIVE YOU AN OVERVIEW. MAITLAND BLEECKER (BORN 1903) WAS A VERY BRIGHT MAN, AN INVENTOR AND AVIATION DESIGNER WHO WORKED WITH THE CURTISS-WRIGHT COMPANY. HE HAS EXHIBITS IN THE SMITHSONIAN AND AIR & SPACE MUSEUM. HE SEEMS TO HAVE LIVED IN NEW JERSEY FOR MOST OF HIS LIFE. THE FAMILY WERE VERY DEVOUT CHRISTIANS AND THEIR FAITH SAW THEM THROUGH TOUGH TIMES. HE TRACES THE FAMILY FROM THEIR ARRIVAL FROM HOLLAND...THROUGH THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION WHERE HIS ANCESTORS FOUGHT AND 2 WERE PERSONAL FRIENDS OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. ONE GREAT-GREAT-GREAT HAD TO ARGUE FOR HIS VETERAN'S BENEFITS WELL INTO 1822 AND EXCHANGED LETTERS WITH J.C CALHOUN- THEN SECT OR WAR. LEONARD BLEECKER SERVED UNDER CAPT. MARINUS WILLET'S COMMAND FROM 1775 UNTIL THE END OF THE WAR IN 1783. BY WAR'S END HE WAS A BREVET MAJOR. HE THEN WORKED IN THE FLEDGLING NY STOCK MARKET. HE HAS SOME GREAT FACTS ABOUT THE EMIGRANT BLEECKERS...HIS CHILDHOOD ....FATHER BUYS A MODEL T..I TRY AGAIN TO BE AN INVENTOR....VACATIONS...I AM SAVED AND JOIN THE CHURCH....FLORIDA TRIP...LAKE GEORGE....CULVER'S LAKE...WEST MILFORD....COLUMBIA HIGH SCHOOL IN SOUTH ORANGE, NJ....WORLD WAR I....I JOIN THE NATIONAL GUARD - ENCAMPMENT...MY FIRST AIRPLANE...MAPLEWOOD....UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN....HE MEETS HIS FUTURE WIFE ZANA....1ST JOB AT THE NACA AT KLANGLEY FIELD....MOVE TO CURTISS AEROPLANE ON LONG ISLAND....I START HELICOPTER RESEARCH....EUROPE BUSINESS TRIP INCLUDING A TRIP TO BERLIN TO INVESTIGATE PADDLEWHEEL AIRCRAFT......HOLLAND, PARIS, SWITZERLAND, ITALY, MEDITTERANEAN....WE MOVE TO NJ....DOUGLAS DC-3 ENGINE COMPETITION....WRIGHT AERO....NEGOTIATIONS WITH DR. GODDARD....IGOR SIKORSKY....PINECLIFF LAKE, NJ....WORLD WAR II...CURTISS PROPELLER DIVISION.....THEY START LAKE SONOMA IN THE TAPAWINGO TROUT PRESERVE....HIS KIDS GRADUATE COLLEGE, MARRY...AL ATTENDS KING'S COLLEGE...JFK ASSASSINATION....GET CAUGHT IN RIOT ON WAY FROM NEWARK AIRPORT....CALVARY BIBLE CHURCH IN WEST MILFORD...RICVERDALE BIBLE CHURCH....THEN JOIN ALAN AND OLGA AT RINGWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH....FISHING IN CANADA....THEFT OF THE SHAW SKETCHES FROM THE SMITHSONIAN.....RINGWOOD CHRISTIAN SCHOOL STARTED.....WATCH FIRST MOON WALK AND MUCH MORE! IN ONE AMAZING STORY HE RECOUNTS HIS SON RON JOINING THE ARMY. VISUAL AND OTHER HANDICAPS ARE SUPPOSED TO KEEP HIM FROM THE FRONT LINES BUT WHEN THE WAR WORSENS HE IS SENT INTO FRANCE. HE IS CAPTURED BUT MAITLAND & ZANA ARE TOLD THAT HE WAS KILLED IN ACTION. THEY REFUSE TO BELIEVE IT BECAUSE THEY FEEL THEY WERE GIVEN A MESSAGE FROM GOD. OVER A YEAR PASSES BEFORE THEY LEARN THAT HE INDEED SURVIVED, WAS SENT TO A POW CAMP, AND ESCAPED ACROSS GERMAN LINES JUST AT THE END OF THE WAR! HIS STORY ALONE IS AMAZING AND THE DETAILS OF HIS TIME IN A GERMAN HOSPITAL, THE POW CAMP, AND ESCAPE FROM THE CAMP ARE FASCINATING. ONE STORY HE TELLS IS OF AN ALL-FEMALE RUSSIAN FORCE THAT HERDED GERMAN WOMEN, CHILDREN & OLD MEN INTO A CLEARING AND MASSACRED THEM WITH LIGHT MACHINE GUNS. HOW WHEN HE ESCAPED HE RAN BACK TO A BUILDING TO TEAR DOWN A NAZI FLAG - PARTLY TO KEEP HIM WARM AT NIGHT WHILE HE MADE HIS WAY THROUGH THE WOODS AND PARTLY AS A SOUVENIR. I COULD GO ON AND ON...WHAT A TERRIFIC AND INTERESTING LIFE! BOOK TITLE - MY AMERICAN FAMILY: RIDING THE WINDS OF CHANGE..THE BIOGRAPHY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MY BRANCH OF THE BLEECKER FAMILY 1658-1990 AUTHOR - MAITLAND BLEECKER ILLUSTRATED - THROUGHOUT PUBLISHED IN - 1996 - PRIVATELY PRINTED OVERALL CONDITION - NF Hardcover 757 pages ARTICLE BY BLEECKER FOUND ONLINE How I Solved the Helicopter Problem (Sep, 1930) Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue ) Issue: Sep, 1930 Obviously he solved the problem so well that almost all modern helicopters look just like this. How I Solved the Helicopter Problem by MAITLAND B. BLEECKER The problem of vertical flight has been solved at last! Long the subject of experiment by eminent scientist and amateur inventor, the mystery of the helicopter has been unravelled by M. B. Bleecker, young engineer. I WAS first smitten with the helicopter bug six years ago. Today I am thrilled by the view of the finished product, the first genuine, full fledged helicopter in existence. Now I am ready to explain the mystery of the helicopter. In all frankness I must admit that I became acquainted with the idea and the principles of the helicopter before I really knew the definition of that term. That was while I studied engineering at the Bach School of Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Michigan, six years ago. I was 21 then. Before I go into detail concerning the six years of intensive research, designing, experimenting and construction involved in my helicopter plane, completed last June at the Curtiss-Wright factories at Valley Stream, Long Island, I want to explain that a helicopter is a flying machine able to lift itself vertically off the ground. That’s the first point. Second, the true helicopter must be able to hover indefinitely over a given spot. It must be able to descend vertically under its own power, and to achieve a safe descent in the event of engine failure. All of this is in addition to being able to move horizontally at satisfactory speed and to be controllable and satisfactorily stable under all flight conditions. There has been any number of helicopter designs that have successfully lifted themselves off the ground vertically and in some cases attained considerable altitude, but so far as I have been able to ascertain, there was not any one which satisfactorily combined all of the other performance elements of the true helicopter to a degree that makes it a practical machine. For the private owner of aircraft, or for commercial or military operation, the advantages of being able to operate from any small plot of ground and to return successfully to the ground are obvious, and it is not beyond the realm of possibility, I feel, that such an airplane, when placed in practical operation, might revolutionize commercial aviation as it exists today. My so-called Curtiss-Bleecker helicopter consists essentially of four large wings, or blades, mounted at right angles to one another and revolving in a horizontal plane. The wings are caused to revolve by propellers, one to each wing, mounted forward of the leading edge, about two-thirds of the way out. The propellers are driven through a gear and shaft arrangement from one central engine, a 425-horse power air-cooled radial, mounted horizontally. To each of the wings are attached outrigger booms mounting small elevators or tail surfaces. Thus, each unit is in reality a small airplane, consisting of a power-driven wing with a tail which can control the angle of incidence of the wing at any point. Beneath the four wings is slung a small fuselage. In this is located the crew. It is equipped with a conventional type of landing-gear. Despite its radical departure in design and construction from any other type of flying machine, my helicopter does resemble somewhat, in outward appearance, the De La Cierva autogyro. There is one strong fundamental difference in design, however. The wings of my helicopter are made to revolve by the pull of their propellers. In the autogyro, the rotation of the wings results from the forward motion of the entire machine. This variance in design means that the helicopter can soar vertically off the ground without any run and can hover indefinitely over any spot, performances which cannot be attained by the autogyro. It was while I was an engineer at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics at Langley Field in the early part of 1926 that I completed my plans for the helicopter. Instantaneously I was ordered to take up quarters at the Curtiss workshops. Four years of downright hard work followed. A whole year and a half was taken up with research and wind tunnel testing to determine the flight possibilities of my model. My toughest job came in the making of an intelligent engineering analysis of my problems. Take for instance, the hovering condition of flight, where the machine must remain stationary in the air at a given point. The regular wind tunnel equipment was inadequate and it was necessary to devise special methods. We built special apparatus for this and for other tests. Everything was veiled in secrecy for four years. Not one iota of detail leaked out. My job is done. I feel that I have given to aviation an engine of the air which will revolutionize the industry if properly nurtured. My helicopter will rise vertically, it will hover over a given spot, it will descend safely vertically, and move horizontally at a reasonable speed. It should be an invigorating spur to aeronautics. 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