The Cierva Autogiro Company was a British firm established in 1926 to develop the

autogyro An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), gyroscope, gyrocopter or gyroplane, is a class of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. A gyroplane "means a rotorcraft whose rotors are not engine-d ...

. The company was set up to further the designs of

Juan de la Cierva Juan de la Cierva y Codorníu, 1st Count of la Cierva (; 21 September 1895 – 9 December 1936), was a Spanish civil engineer, pilot and a self-taught aeronautical engineer. His most famous accomplishment was the invention in 1920 of a rotorcr ...

, a Spanish engineer and pilot, with the financial backing of

James George Weir Air Commodore James George Weir, (23 May 1887 – 7 November 1973) was an early Scottish aviator and airman. He was a successful industrialist who financed Juan de la Cierva's development of the autogiro. Biography Weir was born in Cambuslang, ...

, 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 Avro (an initialism of the founder's name) was a British aircraft manufacturer. Its designs include the Avro 504, used as a trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the d ...

. The pre-war

Cierva C.30 The Cierva C.30 is an autogyro designed by Juan de la Cierva and built under licence from the Cierva Autogiro Company by A V Roe & Co Ltd (Avro) as the Avro 671, Lioré-et-Olivier as the LeO C.301, and Focke-Wulf. Design and Development Befo ...

proved popular. Nearly 150 were built under licence in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Focke-Wulf Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG () was a German manufacturer of civil and military aircraft before and during World War II. Many of the company's successful fighter aircraft designs were slight modifications of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. It is one of the ...

, and in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

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 James may refer to: People * James (given name) * James (surname) * James (musician), aka Faruq Mahfuz Anam James, (born 1964), Bollywood musician * James, brother of Jesus * King James (disambiguation), various kings named James * Prince Ja ...

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 carried through with Cierva's decision to offer the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

an aircraft capable of true vertical flight. Bennett's innovative design, a new type of

rotorcraft A rotary-wing aircraft, rotorwing aircraft or rotorcraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft with rotor wing, rotary wings that spin around a vertical mast to generate lift (force), lift. Part 1 (Definitions and Abbreviations) of Subchapter A of Chapt ...

that combined key features of the autogyro and helicopter, was tendered to the Air Ministry ( Specification S.22/38) as the Cierva C.41 Gyrodyne, but preliminary work was abandoned with the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Bennett joined

Fairey Aviation The Fairey Aviation Company Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer of the first half of the 20th century based in Hayes, Hillingdon, Hayes in Middlesex and Heaton Chapel and RAF Ringway in Cheshire that designed important military aircraft ...

in 1945, where he continued the development of the C.41 design to create the first

gyrodyne A gyrodyne is a type of VTOL aircraft with a helicopter rotor-like system that needs to be driven by its engine only for takeoff and landing, and includes one or more conventional propeller or jet engines to provide thrust during cruising flig ...

, the Fairey FB-1, that first flew in 1947. In 1943, the Aircraft Department of G & J Weir Ltd. was reconstituted as the Cierva Autogiro Company to develop helicopter designs for the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

. The post-war

Cierva Air Horse The Cierva W.11 Air Horse was a helicopter developed by the Cierva Autogiro Company in the United Kingdom during the mid-1940s. The largest helicopter in the world at the time of its debut, the Air Horse was unusual for using three rotors mounted ...

was at the time (1948) the world's largest helicopter. The first prototype of the Air Horse crashed killing Alan Marsh, Cierva's manager and chief test pilotMarsh had been with Cierva since 1932 and had been its instructor at the autogyro flying school. During

he had flown autogyros for radar development John "Jeep" Cable,Cable had learnt to fly under Marsh and had been a Cierva employee before world War II. During World War II, he had been commanding officer of the Research, Development and Training Unit for Rotary-Wing Aircraft.

Ministry of Supply The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed on 1 August 1939 by the Ministry of Supply Act 1939 ( 2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 38) to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Ministe ...

Chief Helicopter Test Pilot, and J. K. Unsworth the Flight Engineer. This led Weir to cease further investment in the company and its development contracts were transferred to

Saunders-Roe Saunders-Roe Limited, also known as Saro, was a British aerospace and marine-engineering company based at Columbine Works, East Cowes, Isle of Wight. History The name was adopted in 1929 after Alliott Verdon Roe (see Avro) and John Lord took ...

Aircraft

* Cierva C.1 * Cierva C.2 * Cierva C.3 * Cierva C.4 * Cierva C.5 *

Cierva C.6 The Cierva C.6 was the sixth autogyro designed by engineer Juan de la Cierva, and the first one to travel a "major" distance. Cierva, the engineer responsible for the invention of the autogyro, had spent all his funds on the research and creati ...

* Cierva C.7

British-built aircraft

* Cierva C.8 *

Cierva C.9 __NOTOC__ The Cierva C.9 was an experimental autogyro built by Cierva in England in 1927, in association with Avro Avro (an initialism of the founder's name) was a British aircraft manufacturer. Its designs include the Avro 504, used as ...

Cierva C.10 The Parnall C.10, sometimes known as the Cierva C.10 was an experimental autogyro built in the UK in 1927''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft'' 1982, p.1153 but abandoned after two crashes during taxiing tests.Brooks 1988, p.82Wixey 1990 ...

Cierva C.12 The Cierva C.12 was an experimental autogyro built by Cierva Autogiro Company in England in 1929, in association with Avro. Development Like most other Cierva designs, it was based on an existing aircraft fuselage - in this case, an Avro Avian. ...

(first flight 1929) - first autogyro with floats *Cierva C.13 - flying boat autogiro (project only) *Cierva C.14 * Cierva C.17 * Cierva C.19 * Cierva C.20 Focke-Wulf licence-built version of C.19 * Cierva C.21 Lioré et Olivier licence-built version of C.19 (not built) *

Cierva C.24 The de Havilland C.24 was a two-seat autogyro built by de Havilland at its Stag Lane Aerodrome, Stag Lane works in England in 1931 Design and development The C.24 was built in 1931 using a Cierva rotor head coupled to the cabin of a de Havill ...

*Cierva C.25 *Cierva C.26 - twin-engine autogiro (project only); designation re-used for modified C.24 * Cierva C.29 *

*Cierva C.32 - two-seat coupe autogiro (project only) *Cierva C.33 - four seat autogiro based on the

Avro Type 641 Commodore Avro (an initialism of the founder's name) was a British aircraft manufacturer. Its designs include the Avro 504, used as a trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the del ...

(project only) *Cierva C.37 - twin engine, twin boom autogiro with 45-foot diameter rotor (project only) *Cierva C.38 *Cierva C.39 - two or three fleet spotter autogiro (project only) * Cierva C.40 *

Weir W.1 - W.4 A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

- Four prototypes of single-place autogiro. Abandoned when development of W.5 helicopter commenced. * Weir W.5 (first flight 1938) - 2-seater twin (outrigger) rotor helicopter with wooden frame; engine was a 50 hp 4-cylinder air-cooled Weir * Weir W.6 (first flight 1939) - twin rotor helicopter, 200 hp

de Havilland Gipsy The de Havilland Gipsy is a British air-cooled four-cylinder in-line aircraft engine designed by Frank Halford in 1927 to replace the ADC Cirrus in the de Havilland DH.60 Moth light biplane. Initially developed as an upright 5 litre ( ...

, metal tube frame *

Cierva W.9 The Cierva W.9 was a British 1940s experimental helicopter with a three-blade tilting-hub controlled main rotor, and torque compensation achieved using a jet of air discharged from the rear port side of the fuselage. The design was not further d ...

(first flight 1945) - experimental helicopter to E.16/43, used shaft-driven hydraulically-actuated tilting hub for rotor control, and blown air for torque control and direction, one built *

Cierva W.11 Air Horse The Cierva W.11 Air Horse was a helicopter developed by the Cierva Autogiro Company in the United Kingdom during the mid-1940s. The largest helicopter in the world at the time of its debut, the Air Horse was unusual for using three Helicopter roto ...

(first flight 1948) - heavy lift helicopter development of W.6 design, two built *Cierva W.14 Skeeter (first flight 1948) - from 1951 the

Saunders-Roe Skeeter The Saunders-Roe Skeeter is a two-seat training and scout helicopter that was developed and produced by British manufacturer Saunders-Roe ("Saro") of Cowes and Southampton, in the United Kingdom. Work on what would become the Skeeter had bee ...

Cierva CR Twin The Cierva CR Twin (originally designated CR LTH.1 and also known as the Grasshopper III) was a five-seat utility helicopter that first flew in the UK in 1969. It was a joint development between Cierva Autogiro Company and Rotorcraft now a subs ...

(first flight 1969)

Notes and references

;Notes ;Citations ;Bibliography
CIERVA AUTOGIRO Co., Ltd
''Flight'' DECEMBER 9, 1926 p810 {{Authority control Technology companies established in 1926 Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United Kingdom Defunct helicopter manufacturers of the United Kingdom 1926 establishments in England Technology companies disestablished in 1948 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1926 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1948 1948 disestablishments in England British companies disestablished in 1948 British companies established in 1926