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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 0039.PDF
JANUARY 5, 1939 FLIGHT. 21 A Pobjoy-engined Pitcairn Autogiro, as ordered by the U.S. Bureau of Air Commerce. news came through in respect of the Focke helicopter. A sectional view of American reaction to this news is probably- best provided in the printed reports of the hearings before the House of Representatives in regard to the Dorsey Bill. 1 was surprised to find, in the carefully worded testimonies at these hearings, such favourable references to work done h foreign countries. Reverting to the Rotating-Wing Meeting in Philadelphia, I would mention that it was actually organised by the Philadelphia chapter of the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences, chiefly because this is the town in which prac tically all the rotary-wing activity in the States takes place. The responsible people are: — E. Burke Wilford, president of the Pennsylvania Aircraft Syndicate; Agnew E. Larsen, chief designer of the Pitcairn Autogiro Corporation; W. Laurence LePage, connected, I believe, with the Focke helicopter, and having helicopter ideas himself; Richard H. Prewitt, chief designer of the Kellett Cor poration ; James G. Ray, formerly director and chief pilot of the Pitcairn Autogiro Corporation, but now independent; Ralph H. McClarren, the secretary, who does the work. The proceedings of the meeting, which lasted three days, started on October 27 after a dinner at the Rittenhouse Designed by the author of this article — the Hafner A.R. Ill gyroplane, which is controlled by varying the incidence of the blades. Club, supposedly formal but, according to English standards, more like a re union party. (The only thing out of place seemed to be evening dress.) First came a lecture entitled " Rotating-Wing Aircraft," delivered at the Franklin Institute by Dr. Alexander Klemin, Professor at the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aeronautics, New York University, in which he made a survey of the field. The next day Mr. Ralph H. McClarren, of the Franklin Institute, gave his " Review of Rotating-Wing Aircraft." This again was a general talk, which was very pleasantly illus trated by some flying models and by experiments with a small wind tunnel. These showed the airflow around a rotor and demonstrated the principle of auto- rotation . Then Mr. R. H. Prewitt spoke about the history of the Autogiro generally, and the Kellett Autogiro in particular. Mr. G. P. Herrick discussed his " Convertaplane," which is basically a fixed- wing aeroplane, the lower wings of which carry the normal controls while the upper plane is mounted on a pivot in such a way that, although normally fixed, it may be leleased to autorotate and thereby increase its lift for emergency landings. A film was produced to show that such a procedure was really possible. Mr. H. H. Piatt brought a popular analysis of the stability problem of the helicopter rotor with articulated blades, and made references to his own helicopter project, which is characterised by a single lifting screw. Mr. E. Burke Wilford discussed his gyroplane, which has blades that have no freedom to flap, but may be feathered about a substantially radial axis in order to equalise the lift on the advancing and retreating side in forward flight. He concluded with a plea for the rotary-wing aircraft gener ally, and produced statistics to show their superior safety as compared with the fixed wing. Rep. Frank J. G. Dorsey, in his speech entitled " Govern ment Use and Development," explained the historic U.S. Government policy '' of developing national resources and furthering the future welfare of the people by expenditure of Federal funds to complement private capital." Im portant points in his speech are italicised below: — "Not an important purchaser of airplanes has ever The Kellett Autogiro, experimented with by the U.S. Army for reconnaissa ice work.
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