In 1863, the French writer Ponton D'Amecourt was the first person to coin the term "helicopter" from the two words "helico" for spiral and "pter" for wings.
The very first piloted helicopter was invented by Paul Cornu in 1907, however, this design was not successful.
French inventor, Etienne Oehmichen built and flew a helicopter one kilometer in 1924. Another early helicopter that flew for a decent distance was the German Focke-Wulf Fw 61, invented by an unknown inventor.