For the real-life aircraft known as a Vertibird, see Tiltrotor VertiBird was the name of a line of toy helicopter products made by Mattel between 1971 and the early 1980s. Description General 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. Box contents The box contents of the average VertiBird playset consisted of the following items: Cardboard packing for the Vertibird. Holds the VertiBird and rotor Also has punchouts as noted below. VertiBird with base and controls and helicopter mostly preassembled (except as noted in version list below). Cardboard skill accessories. (cardboard punchout Landing Platform) - Accessory bag with the following items. VertiBird Instructions. Label stickers for the VertiBird and accessories. Two-bladed plastic rotor with safety rubber tips. Skyhook. Pickup accessories. (Astronaut, Space Capsule) Plastic skill accessories. (Life raft) Other versions of the VertiBird also included: Molded forms for the base and controls that were set theme specific. (Rescue Ship, Polar Adventure) Punch-out cardboard buildings that are playset theme specific. (Airborne Rescue) Glow-in-the-dark luminous Label stickers for the Vertibird and accessories. (Night Patrol) Play mats. (Paramedic Rescue) Site accessories that are playset theme specific. (Polar Adventure, Battlestar Galactica) Various other pickup items that were set theme specific. Power Power was provided by 4 'D' sized alkaline batteries in the base. They also doubled as weight to hold down the base. 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 altitude gains and losses when changing direction. Overall the VertiBird is easy to learn how to pilot