Find Out the Most Interesting Fact About Your State

In 1909, a Kansas man named William Purvis helped design one of the first successful helicopter prototypes. It was powered by a gasoline engine and actually managed to lift off the ground, long before helicopters became common in aviation. Kansas thus played an overlooked role in flight history.

Today, most people associate aviation breakthroughs with the Wright brothers, but Kansas quietly contributed innovations of its own. The state’s helicopter design may have been primitive, yet it set the stage for machines that now serve in rescue missions, warfare, and everyday transportation across the globe.