Autogyro History invented in the early 1920s by Juan de la Cierva

Autogyro History

Past The autogyro (autogiro), invented in the early 1920s by Juan de la Cierva, a Spanish civil engineer-turned aeronautical engineer, has had a chequered career but is now destined to be the aircraft of the future. Cierva's original name for the aircraft was Autogiro, indicating that the rotor turned by autogiration. This led some to call it the windmill plane. In various parts of the world it has been described or named giro-plane, giro-copter, giro-glider and rotorcraft. Rotorcraft can also refer to all forms of helicopter, of which the autogiro was a forerunner. Cierva's development of the rotor system was instrumental in, even crucial to, the success of the helicopter. The early autogyro was actually a compound aircraft in that it had wings, tail and a rotor blade. It was also powered by a forward-mounted engine and propeller, as were many of the first aircraft. In fact it looked like an ordinary aircraft with a fixed rotor mounted on legs (pylon) above the pilot. Cierva pursued this design after one of his early aircraft, a tri-motor bomber, crashed during trials. He looked for a safer alternative and concluded that by adding a rotor the aircraft could land safely in the event of an engine failure. With the development of the steerable rotor in the 1930s, the autogyro lost its wings, as these were no longer needed to fly the aircraft. This form of autogyro was being used by the military into the 1940s and was even crucial to the success of the Battle of Britain, as it was used as a target to calibrate the new radar. Present The majority of autogyros today are built and flown for sport. However, they are designed, sold and used for a fascinating variety of purposes: crop spraying, aerial photography, checking power cables, ground searches, livestock herding and even in a James Bond film in which the autogyro 'Little Nellie' triumphed with its deadly airborne arsenal. Most present-day autogyros have a push prop instead of a tractor prop. Future What will the future bring? I believe the basic autogyro of the future is already with us and has returned to its roots as a compound aircraft. At least two prototype aircraft in different parts of the world are flying successfully and ready to break many records and a few hearts. The aircraft of the future can take off and land vertically to eliminate expensive airfields with long runways. It is also capable of travelling at high speed beyond the normal capability of an ordinary autogyro or helicopter and to do so it has wings. It will also be capable of being scaled up from a single seater to a multi seater and all the way up to a heavy lifter like the Herculese. There are gyro-planes in existence in some parts of the world capable of all these things. The translation from autorotation to low-drag winged flight has been solved, enabling the aircraft to reach more economical cruising speeds and the same altitudes as any other prop-driven aircraft. Carter Copters: www.cartercopters.com