Vertibird (Mattel)

Vertibird "rescue Mission" Mattel. 1976.

VertiBird was the name of a line of toy helicopter products made by Mattel between 1971 and the early 1980s.

The VertiBird helicopter flies around a central base containing an electric motor, spring lift assist, pitch control, batteries, and a throttle. A 21-inch arm with pitch control rod and the spindle that transfers the power to helicopter via drive springs and drive rod, is connected from the central base to the helicopter.

The original VertiBird playset has a space theme appropriate for the space age attitude of the 1970s. The first set was reminiscent of the Project Mercury program. Later versions of the VertiBird would continue to revisit the space theme as well as other popular television and movie themes of the 1970s and early 1980s time frames.

Flight

The helicopter is controlled using a two lever control unit. The controls operate similar to a real helicopter. The throttle control provides proportional control of the blade speed. The pitch control provides for tilting the Vertibird forward or backward. During flight the VertiBird is subject to the same physical flight characteristics as a real helicopter. This included ground-effects for low level hovering, plus altidude gains and losses when changing direction. Overall the VertiBird is easy to learn how to pilot for basic flight, but precision flying will require some patience and time on the controls as in a real helicopter.

-Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertibird -

Mattel VertiBird tv toy commercial circa 1973 through 1976 :

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