the.com/autogyro
the helicopter's stubborn cousin that flies on faith, freewheeling blades, and zero engine help up top.
means An aircraft that gets its lift from an unpowered rotor that spins freely as the craft moves forward, while a conventional engine and propeller provide the thrust to push it along.
from A 20th-century coinage stitched from Greek parts: 'auto-' meaning 'self' (the same 'self' in automobile and automatic) plus 'gyro,' from Greek 'gyros' meaning 'a turn or circle' — so, roughly, 'self-turner,' a nod to those blades that whirl on their own. The Spanish engineer Juan de la Cierva, who pioneered the machine, trademarked his version as the 'Autogiro,' and the generic spelling 'autogyro' grew out from there.
- unpowered rotor
- Top blades spin from airflow alone, never engine-driven.
- invented 1923
- Juan de la Cierva built it before helicopters existed.
- near-impossible stall
- Autorotation keeps it flying when engines quit cold.
- royal crash
- James Bond flew one in You Only Live Twice.
- short takeoff
- Some leap airborne in under fifty feet.
pitcairn pa-36 — american autogyro that crossed the atlantic in 1934, piloted by amelia earhart's contemporary willa brown
gyrodyne dsn-1 — vtol autogyro hybrid developed by gyrodyne aircraft for u.s. military in 1959