|
Autogyro
An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), also known as a ''gyroplane'', is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller. While similar to a helicopter rotor in appearance, the autogyro's rotor must have air flowing across the rotor disc to generate rotation, and the air flows upwards through the rotor disc rather than down. The autogyro was invented by Spanish engineer Juan de la Cierva in an attempt to create an aircraft that could fly safely at low speeds. He first flew one on 9 January 1923, at Cuatro Vientos Airfield in Madrid. The aircraft resembled the fixed-wing aircraft of the day, with a front-mounted engine and propeller. Cierva's autogyro is considered the predecessor of the modern helicopter. The success of the autogyro garnered the interest of industrialists and under license from Cierva in the 1920s and 1930s, the Pitcairn & Kellett co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AutoGyro Calidus - Shuttleworth Season Premiere 2016 (26422815634)
An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), also known as a ''gyroplane'', is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller. While similar to a helicopter rotor in appearance, the autogyro's rotor must have air flowing across the rotor disc to generate rotation, and the air flows upwards through the rotor disc rather than down. The autogyro was invented by Spanish engineer Juan de la Cierva in an attempt to create an aircraft that could fly safely at low speeds. He first flew one on 9 January 1923, at Cuatro Vientos Airfield in Madrid. The aircraft resembled the fixed-wing aircraft of the day, with a front-mounted engine and propeller. Cierva's autogyro is considered the predecessor of the modern helicopter. The success of the autogyro garnered the interest of industrialists and under license from Cierva in the 1920s and 1930s, the Pitcairn & Kellett compa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juan De La Cierva
Juan de la Cierva y Codorníu, 1st Count of la Cierva (; 21 September 1895 in Murcia, Spain – 9 December 1936 in Croydon, United Kingdom) was a Spanish civil engineer, pilot and a self taught aeronautical engineer. His most famous accomplishment was the invention in 1920 of a rotorcraft called ''Autogiro'',''Aero Digest'', Feb 1939, page 27 a single-rotor type of aircraft that came to be called autogyro in the English language. In 1923, after four years of experimentation, De la Cierva developed the articulated rotor, which resulted in the world's first successful flight of a stable rotary-wing aircraft, with his C.4 prototype. Early life Juan de la Cierva was born to a wealthy, aristocratic Spanish family, and for a time his father was the War Minister. At the age of eight he was spending his pocket money with his friends on experiments with gliders in one of his father's work sheds. In their teens they constructed an aeroplane from the wreckage they had bought from a Frenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rotorcraft
A rotorcraft or rotary-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft with rotary wings or rotor blades, which generate lift by rotating around a vertical mast. Several rotor blades mounted on a single mast are referred to as a rotor. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) defines a rotorcraft as "supported in flight by the reactions of the air on one or more rotors". Rotorcraft generally include aircraft where one or more rotors provide lift throughout the entire flight, such as helicopters, autogyros, and gyrodynes. Compound rotorcraft augment the rotor with additional thrust engines, propellers, or static lifting surfaces. Some types, such as helicopters are capable of vertical takeoff and landing. An aircraft which uses rotor lift for vertical flight but changes to solely fixed-wing lift in horizontal flight is not a rotorcraft but a convertiplane. Classes of rotorcraft Helicopter A helicopter is a rotorcraft whose rotors are driven by the engine(s) th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes allow helicopters to be used in congested or isolated areas where fixed-wing aircraft and many forms of STOL (Short TakeOff and Landing) or STOVL (Short TakeOff and Vertical Landing) aircraft cannot perform without a runway. In 1942, the Sikorsky R-4 became the first helicopter to reach full-scale production.Munson 1968.Hirschberg, Michael J. and David K. Dailey"Sikorsky". ''US and Russian Helicopter Development in the 20th Century'', American Helicopter Society, International. 7 July 2000. Although most earlier designs used more than one main rotor, the configuration of a single main rotor accompanied by a vertical anti-torque tail rotor (i.e. unicopter, not to be confused with the single-blade monocopter) has become the most ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pitcairn Aircraft Company
The Pitcairn Aircraft Company was an American aircraft manufacturer of light utility aircraft. An early proponent of the autogyro, the company, later known as the Autogiro Company of America among other names, remained in business until 1948. History Harold Frederick Pitcairn, the youngest son of PPG Industries founder, John Pitcairn, Jr., founded Pitcairn Aircraft Company. The business started with the formation of Pitcairn Flying School and Passenger Service on 2 November 1924, which later became Eastern Airlines. In 1926, Pitcairn started Pitcairn Aircraft Company initially to build aircraft for his growing airmail service. He purchased a field in Horsham Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and built Pitcairn Field no. 2. The first aircraft, a Pitcairn PA-1 Fleetwing, was built at the Bryn Athyn field. In 1927, Pitcairn brought aboard a friend and designer from his apprenticeship days at Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company, Agnew E. Larsen. Larsen left the Thoma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cierva Autogiro Company
The Cierva Autogiro Company was a British firm established in 1926 to develop the autogyro. The company was set up to further the designs of Juan de la Cierva, a Spanish engineer and pilot, with the financial backing of James George Weir, a Scottish industrialist and aviator. History Juan de la Cierva's first British-built autogyro was the C.8 design. It and some other designs were built in conjunction with Avro. The pre-war Cierva C.30 proved popular. Nearly 150 were built under licence in the United Kingdom by Avro, in Germany by Focke-Wulf, and in France by Lioré-et-Olivier. On 9 December 1936, Cierva was killed in the Croydon KLM airliner accident when the aircraft in which he was a passenger crashed after taking off in fog. Dr. James Allan Jamieson Bennett was promoted to Chief Technical Officer of the company and remained in the position until leaving in 1939. In addition to making important contributions to autogyro controls while at Cierva Autogyro, Bennett carrie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buhl A-1 Autogyro
The Buhl A-1 Autogiro was an autogyro optimised for air camera work designed and built from 1930. To this end, Etienne Dormoy designed the Buhl A-1, an autogyro An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), also known as a ''gyroplane'', is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller. ... with a pusher engine located behind the pilot and camera operator. The Buhl A-1 was the first pusher style autogyro. Specifications See also References External links The Buhl A-1 Autogiro {{Buhl aircraft Bull A-1 Single-engined pusher autogyros 1930s United States experimental aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1931 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pusher Configuration
In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in normal operation. Pusher configuration describes this specific (propeller or ducted fan) thrust device attached to a craft, either aerostat (airship) or aerodyne (aircraft, WIG, paramotor, rotorcraft) or others types such as hovercraft, airboat and propeller-driven snowmobiles. "Pusher configuration" also describes the layout of a fixed-wing aircraft in which the thrust device has a pusher configuration. This kind of aircraft is commonly called a pusher. Pushers have been designed and built in many different layouts, some of them quite radical. History The rubber-powered "Planophore", designed by Alphonse Pénaud in 1871, was an early successful model aircraft with a pusher propeller. Many early aircraft (especially biplane ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Groen Hawk 4
The Groen Hawk 4 was a single engine, pusher configuration, four seat autogyro built in the United States in the late 1990s. Three prototypes, two piston engined and one turboprop powered, were flown but the Hawk did not go into production. Design and development Design work on the Hawk utility/passenger autogyro began in 1996 and the first prototype, the two seat H2X, first flew on 4 February 1997. It was later modified to include a third seat and renamed the Hawk III. The production prototype, a four-seater named the Hawk 4, was significantly different from the Hawk III in detail but retained the pod and mid-line pusher engine configuration, combined with low stub wings, twin booms and fins. Changes between the Hawk III and 4, apart from cabin revisions to accommodate the extra seat, included a new constant chord, aluminium rotor in place of the earlier tapered, composite blade. The rotor was also lowered and the pitch control levers enclosed within a shallower fairing. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Igor Bensen
Igor Vasilevich Bensen (russian: И́горь Васи́льевич Бенсен; April 1, 1917 – February 10, 2000) was a Russian-American engineer. He founded Bensen Aircraft, a US company which produced a successful line of gyrogliders (rotor kites) and autogyros. Early life and education He was born in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, and eventually reached the United States in 1937. He began studies at age 17 while in Belgium, won a scholarship to study in the US three years later. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1940, later becoming a Registered Professional Engineer. Career Bensen flew his first towed gyroglider in 1954. He founded the Popular Rotorcraft Association (PRA) in 1962, a non-profit interest group for owners and homebuilders of autogyros and helicopters, based in Mentone, Indiana. He was the group's president from 1962 to 1971. Honors and awards He received an h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helicopter Rotor
A helicopter main rotor or rotor system is the combination of several rotary wings (rotor blades) with a control system, that generates the aerodynamic lift force that supports the weight of the helicopter, and the thrust that counteracts aerodynamic drag in forward flight. Each main rotor is mounted on a vertical mast over the top of the helicopter, as opposed to a helicopter tail rotor, which connects through a combination of drive shaft(s) and gearboxes along the tail boom. The blade pitch is typically controlled by the pilot using the helicopter flight controls. Helicopters are one example of rotary-wing aircraft (rotorcraft). The name is derived from the Greek words ''helix'', helik-, meaning spiral; and ''pteron'' meaning wing. Design principles Overview The helicopter rotor is powered by the engine, through the transmission, to the rotating mast. The mast is a cylindrical metal shaft that extends upward from—and is driven by—the transmission. At the top of the m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bensen Aircraft
The Bensen Aircraft Corporation was established by Dr. Igor Bensen at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina in 1952 to develop and market a variety of helicopters and autogyros of Bensen's own design. History The most successful product was the Bensen B-8 that first flew in 1955 and remained in production until the company closed down in 1987. Aircraft See also * Gyrocopter * Gyroglider A rotor kite or gyrokite is an unpowered, rotary-wing aircraft. Like an autogyro or helicopter, it relies on lift created by one or more sets of rotors in order to fly. Unlike a helicopter, gyrokites and rotor kites do not have an engine poweri ... References Notes Bibliography * External links Bensen Aircraft Foundation archives{{Bensen aircraft Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Defunct helicopter manufacturers of the United States Defunct manufacturing companies based in North Carolina Manufacturing companies established in 1952< ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Rotorcraft")
