Cierva: Aircraft
This lists aircraft developed by Juan de la Cierva; there is a separate entry for the company history: Cierva Autogiro Co
Technology developed for the Cierva Autogiro was utilized by experimenters in the development of the helicopter, the first fully successful example of which, the FA-61, was flown in 1936 by Cierva Autogiro Company's licensee Focke-Achgelis.
The Autogiro also led directly to the Cierva C.38 Gyrodyne, which utilized a powered rotor for hovering and low speed flight, and a side-mounted propeller for torque correction and propulsion in cruise flight. As airspeed increased, propeller power increased while rotor power automatically decreased which reduced rotor collective pitch to autorotative angle with the rotor remaining parallel to the flightpath. As airspeed reduced, propeller power decreased while rotor power automatically increased which increased rotor collective pitch to non-autorotative angles.
The Fairey Gyrodyne, first flown in 1948, established the superiority of this configuration over that of the helicopter, which Juan de la Cierva consistently rejected as too mechanically complicated, even though he agreed with the requirement for hovering performance.
| Cierva Aircraft | ||
| Model | Date | Detail |
| C-30A | 1934 | Two-seater autogyro powered by 140 hp Armstrong Siddeley Motors Genet Major radial engine. 12 delivered to School of Army Co-operation as Rota Is. Built under licence by Avro. |
| C-6 | La Cierva C-6 was the sixth autogyro constructed by engineer Juan de la Cierva, and the first one to travel a "major" distance. Cierva spent all his funds in the research and creation of his first five prototypes. In 1923, he persuaded the Military Aviation Aeronutics Department, to take over the second stage in the research and development.
After several wind tunnel tests, Military Aviation built autogyro La Cierva C-6 in an Avro 504 frame. La Cierva C-6 Proptotype was fitted with ailerons mounted in two small size wings, elevators and rudder. Only the front propeller was powered, therefore this aircraft could not hover, and could lose control at low airspeed. The vertical axis rotor spun freely, and the faster the autogyro flew, the faster the rotor spun, and the greater lift it produced. Later La Cierva autogyros had a powered vertical axis rotor (only at low airspeed), which enabled them to hover in a helicopter-like fashion | |
| C-9 | ||
| W-9 | 1948 | Research Helicopter. |
| Air Horse | 1948 |
|
| Cierva Aircraft | ||
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Wikipedia
- Warplanes of the World 1918-1939 by Michael J. H. Taylor. Published 1981. ISBN 0-7110-1078-1