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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0098.PDF
96 FLIGHT, 23 January 1953 THE RISE OF THE HELICOPTER . . . in January 19335 an element of competition crept into the rotary- wing field. A single-seater with a three-bladed rotor and a 40 h.p. t Salmson engine, it was accompanied by its designers—Raoul Hafner and Bruno Nagler. The former is, of course, now asso ciated with the development of Bristol helicopters. The Hafner- Nagler helicopter did not prove a success, so proof of the sound ness of Hafner's ideas on cyclic variation of main-rotor-blade pitch angle had to await later confirmation. It was here that I gave Hafner his first passenger flight in an Autogiro, and later he became a regular pupil of the Autogiro School. The initial financial backing for Hafner's project was provided by Mr. Jack Coats, and when the Hafner-Nagler partnership was dissolved the A.R. Ill Construction Company came into being at Feltham— right on the Cierva doorstep. Through the perseverance of Capt. R. N. ("Loopy") Liptrot, a deputy director at the Air Ministry, official interest was once again aroused in the Service potentialities of the Autogiro by the placing of a contract with Cierva's for a five-seater "direct-control" prototype with a 600 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Panther engine, the selected licencees being Westland Aircraft, Yeovil. For some months experimental flying with the C.19 Mk V "direct-control" prototype had been a regular feature at Han worth. During March a redesigned version, the C.30, which had been constructed in the N.F.S. workshops, made its initial appear ance. Cierva put this through its prototype tests with such success that a demonstration to the Press was staged towards the end of April, and in June it participated in the Royal Air Force Display at Hendon. A remarkable feature of this machine, which was still powered with a 103 h.p. Genet Major engine, was the absence of a rudder and the introduction of a hanging-stick type of control for displacement of the tilting hub and rotor disc for control about all axes. Progress made by the Weir interests soon became apparent with the arrival at Hanworth of the C.28 prototype after initial flight tests, at Abbotsinch, by Alan Marsh. This was a small single-seater powered by a Bristol Dryad engine of 40 h.p. and having a two-bladed "direct control" rotor system. Later in the year two new prototypes, the W.i and W.2, the latter with a Pullin-designed and Weir-built engine of 50 h.p., were being flight-tested. Widespread interest in the C.30 principle now led to firm orders being accepted. The Air Ministry having indicated its willingness to purchase twelve, an agreement was concluded between Cierva's and Avro's for the initial construction of thirty aircraft powered with the 140 h.p. seven-cylinder version of the Genet Major and designated the Type C.30A. As an interim measure, an order had been placed with Airwork Ltd., Heston, for three aircraft of similar design to be known as the C.30P. By November, prototype tests were under way and the Avro order was subsequently increased to one hundred. By 1934, the Cierva Flying School had become well established with the C.19 Mk IV, which proved very popular with trainees from all parts of the world. The oldest pupil trained was J. A. McMullen, aged 69, and the youngest F. J. ("Jeep") Cable, aged 17$. Mrs. James Weir was a regular soloist, as well as James G. Weir and Hugh Kindersley. The first ab initio trained Auto giro pilot to obtain his commercial "B" licence was Jack Richard son, the present honorary secretary of the Helicopter Association of Great Britain. The Bekesbourne Flying Club included a C.19 amongst its school aircraft and was later to be joined by the Lancashire, Bristol, Redhill and Heston Clubs, each with a C.30A. Towards the end of 1934 there appeared a further addition to the British rotary-wing effort. This was the Kay Gyroplane, designed by David Kay of Perth and constructed at Eastleigh, Hants, by Oddie Bradbury and Cull, Ltd., a pioneering concern in the construction and supply of rotor blades to the Cierva Company. The Kay machine was a single-seater of the "direct- control" type, powered by a 75 h.p. Pobjoy "R" engine. Its four- .,.,.., Cierva C.30A "direct control" Autogiro (1934). bladed main rotor, mounted on a pylon-supported fixed hub, employed cyclic variation of blade pitch-angle for lateral control only, longitudinal control being by a conventionally mounted elevator. Kay had been known as a rotary-wing enthusiast for some years; in fact, his first prototype, powered with an A.B.C. Scorpion engine, was in a finished form in 1932. For some time those closely in the know had been aware of a new Cierva development, namely, "direct take-off." The success ful outcome of eighteen months' intensive experimentation was officially revealed during a lecture given by Cierva to the Royal Aeronautical Society on March 15th, 1935 : the Autogiro was now capable of takmg-off without any forward run. Shortly afterwards there appeared the C.L.20, a two-seater side-by-side "direct-coatrol" cabin Autogiro. Powered with a 90 h.p. Pobjoy Niagara engine, it had been constructed by West- land Aircraft to the designs of M. George Lepere, chief engineer to Liore" et Olivier, who were the French licencees of the Cierva Company. Service interest was now growing. Six Avro-produced "Rotas" (C.30A) had been delivered to the R.A.F. School of Army Co-operation, Old Sarum. The CO. and instructor of this Auto giro Flight was F/L. R. H. Hayworth-Booth, who had received five hours tuition at the Cierva School! Following some cruiser trials sponsored by the Italian Navy, the Royal Navy once again intimated its interest in the deck-landing potentialities of the Autogiro, but orders were still lacking. In May there appeared at Rochester—for later Air Ministry trials at Felixstowe—a C.30A which had been equipped with metal floats by Short Bros., Ltd.; it was test-flown by Alan Marsh. The number of firm orders for the C.30A received to date from purchasers in all parts of the world totalled ninety-three. Cierva's disclosure of his "direct take-off" development had once again stimulated active thoughts on the helicopter. Early in 1936 it was widely publicized that the Air Ministry was pre pared to sponsor the construction of such a machine by Blackburn Aircraft, Brough, to the design of the Hungarian inventor, Oskar Von Asboth. The long period of secrecy and silence which had followed Cierva's disclosure sixteen months earlier of the "direct take-off" development came to an end on July 23, 1936. At a Press demon stration held on a corner of Hounslow Heath where the gorse bushes were thickest, two new experimental prototypes, the Cierva C.40 and the Weir W^.3, were publicly displayed. Alan Marsh excelled himself by demonstrating with each in turn their unique "no-run" take-off and landing characteristics. With the customary Cierva flair for making use of what had gone before (thus keeping experimental costs to a minimum until some new principle had been fully established) the new-type two-bladed "auto-dynamic" (Left) Cierva 'direct take-off" Autogiro—experimental forerunner of the C.40—had a C.30 fuselage and engine with o two-bladed "autodynamic" rotor (1936). (Right) Weir VV-3 "direct take-off" Autogiro with experimental "autodynamic" two-bladed rotor (1936),
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