Jacob Christian Hansen Ellehammer (1871-1946) was a Danish watchmaker and inventor who made early contributions to powered flight. Unaware of the Wright brothers' success a couple of years earlier, Ellehammer worked in isolation to invent a means of flight, a feat he achieved in a "semi-biplane" on September 12, 1906. He soon shifted his attention to vertical flight craft, succeeding in 1912 in hopping along above ground in an experimental helicopter.

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Jacob Ellehammer's Helicopter, c. 1912

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Photo credit: © Science History Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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