This paper summarises the work done at the National Aeronautical Laboratory (NAL) between 1975 and 1977 on the development of vertical axis wind turbines based on the Darrieus rotor. On the analytical side, a performance analysis was developed which permits the estimation of the characteristics of such machines. A 5 m high wind turbine using curved wooden blades was designed, fabricated and tested. Both the theory and initial tests confirmed the low starting torque of the turbine. Wind tunnel tests were performed on model Savonius rotors to determine optimum starter bucket configurations. Finally a straight-bladed turbine was designed and constructed. It is concluded from our experience that darrieus burbines are likely to be useful in large systems used to generate electrical power for the grid; for direct water pumping purposes, however, these turbines are unlikely to be suitable.