FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1931
1931 - 1241.PDF
FLIGHT, NOVEMBER 27, 1931 FOREIGN INTEREST IN THE AUTOGIRO: A small French mission recently visited England tostudy the Cierva machines. Here some of its members are seen with representatives of the Cierva company. From left to right: P. Cour, G. Prat, L. Bourdin, J. de la Cierva, G. Lepere, and A. H. Rawson. (FLIGHT Photo.) French Impression of the Autogiro LUCIEN BOURDIN, chief test pilot of theFrench Dewoitine firm, during a visit to this _<D country to study the Cierva Autogiro, made aflight in one of these machines. He gives his impressions of this flight in a letter to Mr. de la Cierva,of which the following is a translation. Until now my opinion of the Autogiro was simplythat it was a funny looking machine, and I personally had no desire to find myself hanging in the air underrotating blades. Since you have allowed me to fly your machine my opinion has entirely changed. I find it isexceedingly pleasant to fly this new aircraft, and the land- ing is still more so, especially when one understands whatan enormous amount of room is necessary to land an ordinary aeroplane and what a great degree of skill isrequired, while it is just child's-play with the Autogiro. To touch the ground without any bump and with a runof less than 3 ft. is really very pleasant, but the quality that interests me most in the Autogiro is its stabilityduring slow descent. " I was at about 7,000 ft. altitude, and was amusingmyself by coming down vertically, facing wind, just above the aerodrome, when I noticed directly under myself an enormous cloud, which I would have immediately avoidedhad I been flying an aeroplane. I asked myself ' What happens if one enters a cloud with the Autogiro in verticaldescent? ' I kept my machine gliding always dead slow, the engine absolutely throttled back, the air speedindicator showing less than 30 m.p.h., and the altimeter showing 5,000 ft. I entered the cloud and felt one or twoslight bumps, and then that awful ' pea-soup ' surrounded me. My air speed indicator still showed less than 30m.p.h.; my altimeter dropped with splendid regularity. I did not move the controls in the least and I feltabsolutely, perfectly happy. " After five minutes I still saw no sign of the earth ;my altimeter showed about 600 ft., and I asked myself, Where am I going to find myself and in what position? 'The ' pea-soup ' evaporated and thoroughly disappeared, and the ground became visible again ; the machine wason a perfectly even keel ; my air-speed indicator still showed less than 30 m.p.h. I had made absolutely nomovement at all. Where was I? Still facing the same direction, but about half a mile to the back of the pointover which I had started my descent. I had in all pro- bability descended backwards in relation to the ground,since I was facing the wind. What a great confidence in flying the Autogiro to know that you can fly with thegreatest facility and without the slightest risk through clouds or fog at a vertical speed of 12 ft. per sec, muchslower than in a parachute. This is what I most appre- ciate in the Autogiro and what makes me love it." C.24. AUTOGIRO DEMONSTRATION AT HANWORTH I~T AST week we were able to illustrate and describep. the two new types of Autogiro which the CiervaJ ) Company now has stationed at Hanworth, and it was mentioned that a demonstration of these wasto take place on Thursday last. The demonstration was duly given, although it had to be confined to one of thetypes only, the C.24 cabin machine with de Havilland Gipsy III engine. The other machine, the C.19 Mark IV,with Armstrong Siddeley " Genet Major " engine, had not yet received its Certificate of Airworthiness, and so, accord-ing to A.M. regulations, could not be " demonstrated," although there was, of course, nothing to prevent Mr. de la Cierva from taking it up for a " test flight," which he didrepeatedly. Capt. Rawson, the Cierva Autogiro Company's chief testpilot, who has been responsible for a large share of the firm's experimental test work, demonstrated the C.24 righteffectively, while later Mr. Brie obliged with flights in the older C.19 with biplane tail and four-bladed rotor, whichprovided an interesting comparison with the newer types. The writer of these notes had the opportunity to go upwith Capt. Rawson in the C.24, and perhaps a few impres- sions of the flight may be of interest. The starting of therotor by means of the new engine drive and clutch was 1171 c 2
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
