From Autogiro to Gyroplane: The Amazing Survival of an Aviation Technology by Bruce H. Charnov

Author:Bruce H. Charnov
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-07-02T16:00:00+00:00

But such activities and reconnaissance missions in which the Autogiro ventured into harm's way always carried with it the possibility of confrontation with the enemy. As Lieutenants Gregory and Nichols had discovered in testing the Kellett YG-1 in 1936, the Autogiro's turning and descending abilities could outmaneuver fighter planes, which generally only had one pass, but those drills, conducted during artillery-spotting exercises, did not feature live ammunition.8 But Flying Officer Hill9 was about to discover what it was like to face real ammunition and enemy pilots determined to down the Autogiro.

The sun was setting late on the July afternoon as Hill was completing his final calibration exercise—he passed through some disturbed air and realized for the first time that there were other aircraft in the area. When trying to find the cause of the disturbance, he first noticed an aircraft flying below his position and became alarmed when realizing that it was a well-armed German fighter, a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 capable of flying at speeds well above 300 mph. Although the Rota theoretically had a maximum speed of 110 mph, Hill's experience was that aircraft's top speed was 85–90 mph,10 so he knew all that stood between him and death were the unique flying characteristics of the Autogiro! Pretending that he was unaware of the Fw 190, which had looped upward from below the Rota and was then positioned for a strafing run with its cannons and machine guns, sweating profusely with his hand on the stick, Hill waited until the last moment before tilting the rotor head backward, causing the Rota to slow and flare upward and the German plane to pass harmlessly overhead. Hill then pushed the stick hard to port, causing the Rota to turn and dive toward the ground, a maneuver the German pilot declined to follow. But even as Hill struggled to regain control of the Autogiro, which was locked in a steep dive, a second Fw 190 appeared and closed for a kill. Again Hill's flying ability and the aircraft's capabilities saved the day, as he deliberately turned directly toward his attacker, both presenting the smallest possible profile to the attacking aircraft and likely scaring its pilot, a technique that worked. The second aircraft broke off the attack at what seemed the last minute and passed below the Rota. The entire encounter had taken only three minutes and used up most of Hill's fuel, but it carried the planes considerably inland, where Hill was able to continue in steep but controlled descent to a safe landing, while the Fw 190s presumably returned to their bases across the English Channel. The Autogiro had survived, in much the same manner as established by Gregory and Nichols seven years before.

FRANCE

Cierva's early demonstrations in France had attracted the distinguished aviation engineer Captain Georges Lepère, who built the first cabin Autogiro, the C.18, in June 1929.11 Avions Weymann-Lepère had been formed in January 1929, predating the formation of the Pitcairn-Cierva Autogiro Company of America by several weeks, and acquired a Cierva license when the English company had ordered a metal cabin Autogiro in early 1929.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.