A Brief History
On September 18, 1928, Spanish engineer and pilot Juan de la Cierva made a bit of obscure aviation history by becoming the first person to fly an autogyro successfully across the English Channel.
Digging Deeper
The humble autogyro is one of the oddest flying machines still being used, with an unpowered rotating rotor on top making it look deceptively like a helicopter and a pusher propeller located in the back to provide forward thrust. As the autogiro moves forward, the top rotor turns and supplies lift. Not surprisingly, de la Cierva was the inventor of this wild bird, first flown in 1923.
A reasonably cheap and simple design, autogyros were adapted for military by many countries during World War II and are still used today, including in Middle East battlefields. Military and police autogyro use is normally limited to observation and recon, though other uses have been assigned.
Note: Autogyro may also be spelled “autogiro.”
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Many movies have featured an autogyro. Can you name some?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Goebel, Greg. Autogyros, Gyrocopters, & Gyroplanes. Kindle, 2021.
Surplus, Norman. First Gyro: The last aircraft type to conquer the world. Surplus Art, 2022.
