Dancing Rotors, a book about special helicopter usage, documents the evolution of U.S. military helicopter precision flight demonstration teams from 1948 through 1976. It covers Army and Navy efforts to provide unique shows which would stimulate recruiting into both branches of service, and especially into their rotary-wing aviation programs.

One hundred and fifty-two pages in this 8½ x 11 inch softbound book describe the Teams through detailed text, 240 black and white photographs, 17 color photographs, and 80+ drawings. Team member rosters, maneuvers flown, narrations and post-Team events help describe the Army’s Helicopter Drill Team of 1948-1951, The Army Helicopter Square Dance Team of 1952-1961, Bozo the Helicopter Clown of 1952-1964 and 1972-1976, the U.S. Army Aviation Precision Demonstration Team Silver Eagles of 1972-1976, the Rotary Wing Angels of the U.S. Navy’s Helicopter Training Unit One during 1952-1953, and brief episodes by the U.S. Marine Corps and USAF cover most of the story, with several pages on the USA Helicopter Teams that competed in international competitions between 1973 and 1992. Also included is a reproduction of the Silver Eagles Operating Manual. A wealth of very unique helicopter history, heretofore untold, is now within the reach of every helicopter enthusiast.

The Author

As an ex-Army Aviator, bush and mountain pilot, and after twenty-two years as a Bell Helicopter Textron production test pilot, Harry E. "Ned" Gilliand Jr., has accumulated over 15,200 flight hours in slightly more than 100 models of rotary wing aircraft since 1954, and approximately 3,000 hours in fixed-wing aircraft. Now retired from flying, he presents a first-ever definitive history of the U.S. helicopter military precision flight demonstration teams, including the one in which he was a team pilot from late 1955 through mid 1957. His comprehensive text and great number of pictorial presentations tell the whole story in "Dancing Rotors".