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

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. ...

. 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 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 accomplish ...

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

by Avro, in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

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 primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

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 is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

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 United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

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

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 Inter ...

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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. 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 in Middlesex and Heaton Chapel and RAF Ringway in Cheshire. Notable for the design of a number of important military ...

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 is driven by its engine for takeoff and landing only, and includes one or more conventional propeller or jet engines to provide forward 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, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

. 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 in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. A separate ministry, however, was responsible for air ...

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 aero- 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 __NOTOC__ The Cierva C.4 was an experimental autogiro built by Juan de la Cierva in Spain in 1922 which early the following year became the first autogyro to fly successfully. Failures of De la Cierva's attempts to compensate for dissymmetry of l ...

* Cierva C.6

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, short for Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep ("General Association of Radio Broadcasting"), was a Dutch public broadcas ...

* Cierva C.10 * Cierva C.12 (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 *Cierva C.25 *Cierva C.26 - twin-engine autogiro (project only); designation re-used for modified C.24 * Cierva C.29 * Cierva C.30 *Cierva C.32 - two-seat coupe autogiro (project only) *Cierva C.33 - four seat autogiro based on the

Avro Type 641 Commodore AVRO, short for Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep ("General Association of Radio Broadcasting"), was a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system. It was the first public broad ...

(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 - Four prototypes of single-place autogiro. Abandoned when development of W.5 helicopter commenced. *

Weir W.5 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 river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

(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 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 river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

(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 (3 ...

, 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. Development In 1943, primar ...

(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 rotors mounted ...

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

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