This is not new, although it is a particularly nice example of one. My cousin’s father is from Alberta oil country and they showed me photos of one that his grandfather made out of wood and a Model T engine. From what I can tell, he was copying something that was made by Bombardier. Can’t be sure, but Sikorsky himself did this kind of thing even earlier and the Bombardier machines may have been copies of those.
Sikorsky and Bombardier
:)ensen.