"Backpack" Style Helicopters
Stay Tuned
I am still pursuing this area. I really hope to have a real vehicle to offer very soon! It's been slow going (I've been pursuing this off and on since about 1999!), but I should have more time to devote to this project in the near future.
Ahh, the MEG, the MEG...I can tell you about the MEG. I think I can say I can give you more useful info on this helicopter than anyone else offering info on the web. I can hook you up with people involved in the original project that seem to be slightly less crooked than some of the others, and maybe together we could all even get a working vehicle built! Man, that would be cool. As for now, some corrupt crooks at Vortech/Helicraft/whatever are advertising as "For Sale" a strap-on helicopter which does not, in fact exist, except as a rusting, bladeless prototype in Kentucky. However, I think the design has potential, and I was re-selling plans years back, until I took a road trip to Kentucky and learned the truth.
The HelioflyThe Heliofly of Paul Baumgartl, circa 1940's
WNFThe base to learn about the WNF helicopter, also from 1940's
Rhyme Helicopters--was http://www.rhyme-japan.com/
These guys from Japan were big on the web, once. I don't know if they were ever very close to having a working vehicle. Site obviously shut down; has been for quite some time.
The Gen H-4
Here on this "UL Flying" page is a write-up on the "Gen H-4". I think I read a first-hand account of a guy who saw this (standing behind a telephone pole for his safety!). Also from Japan, but apparently not the same as the Rhyme Helicopter. Although one or more sources(not all) described the Rhyme copter as having the same arrangement--4 small engines--I'm assuming they were garbling the two separate vehicle projects together from misunderstanding.
The Old "Flying Contraptions" site
Has some info on unusual aviation devices. Check especially "Magill's Pinwheel".