A US Civil War era Helicopter (aka Valomotive/Reconoiterer)

[Graham1973]

I'm putting this here as I think this is the most appropriate place for this, if anyone thinks otherwise please move this to the correct place.

Major General Benjamin Butler was a political general with no prewar military experience and a reputation for concocting and supporting unconventional ideas. Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Lyman, aide-de-camp to Maj. Gen. George Meade, ventured to Butler’s Richmond front during the Richmond-Petersurg Campaign and recorded some unique plans. “A fire engine to squirt down their earthworks; a petard to blow up their abbatis; an iron net, thrown by mortars, to net them; and finally an auger, 5 feet in diameter, to bore under ground to Richmond.”

Lyman was a natural scientist who graduated from Harvard with honors, and while not possessing an engineering background, could tell these schemes were foolhardy. (If I had to pick one, using a small explosive to blast openings in obstructions could be useful for attacking earthworks in column under fire.) At a cursory glance, these plans did not seem to develop further and may have been fabricated by Lyman. One novel idea received Butler’s full support, to the extent of detaching his chief engineer far from the front to work on it. A helicopter-like flying machine designed by Edward Serrell never made it off the ground, but generated significant intrigue in its time.

Emerging Civil War: The Helicopter Designed by A Union Chief Engineer

As with many pre-internal combustion designs the issue was the weight of the powerplant.

Later:Mods, please merge this with Wingknut's 'Aircraft of the American Civil War Era' thread.

 

[F-2]

https://econterms.net/aero/Patent_US-1863-37771
This might be of use

 

[Scott Kenny]

I'm putting this here as I think this is the most appropriate place for this, if anyone thinks otherwise please move this to the correct place.

The fire hoses were used in the 1973 Egyptian attack across the Suez canal.
Explosives to blast abbatis have been used for years.
Not sure about the iron net.
And WW1 even used augurs etc to breach trenches.