In modern terminology, it would have been what we would call a "game changer."

As it was, William C. Powers' invention was nothing more than a dream of a Confederate man who longed to break the stranglehold of the Union forces.

The year was 1862 and Powers, a Mobilian and architectural engineer by trade, was trying to figure out a way to break the Navy's blockade of Confederate ports. Knowing the Southern states did not have the naval power to break through the blockade, he thought of another way to get much needed supplies and commerce out of the ports.

If ships couldn't go through the blockades, maybe a special type of "air ship" could go above it, he reasoned. Or, maybe the air ship could drop bombs on the blockading ships.

Using his engineering skills, Powers drafted plans for a machine that would lift off and propel itself through the air. He also, as the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum's Tom Paone recounts, took inspiration from famous inventors such as Archimedes and Leonardo da Vinci.

Powers' helicopter was to be powered by a steam engine located in the middle of the craft. It had two smokestacks and a pair of Archimedean screws on the sides to give it thrust and another pair mounted vertically to give it lift. A rudder on the back of the craft would provide steering, operating similar to that of a boat.

"I presume from the drawings that it would have had a maximum crew of two," Paone wrote in an email to War is Boring. "And presuming the hull is between 5 and 6 feet tall, then it would seem to be 20 to 30 feet tall, 20 to 25 feet long, and 10 to 15 feet wide."

"But these are all very rough estimates," he added.

With plans done, Powers attempted to make a small model and then a full-size mockup of the flying machine. He had limited success with the smaller model but nothing more was ever created.

Family lore, Paone said, attributes that to Powers' fear the invention could fall into Union hands.

"When the drawings were donated to the (Smithsonian) museum, family members stated that they were hidden during the war to prevent them from falling into Union hands. It was said that a full size example was never created for fear that it would be captured by the Union, mass produced, and used to rain destruction on the Confederate armies and cities throughout the South," Paone writes.

Even if it had been built, Paone said he doubts it would have flown.

"The craft was supposed to be powered by a steam engine, and the technology at the time didn't allow for an engine that was light enough or powerful enough to power the craft," he told War is Boring.

A model of Powers' helicopter can be seen at the National Air and Space Museum and some of his ideas show up in later aeronautic designs.

"Perhaps Mr. Powers was just ahead of his time," Paone said.