In recent years, gyrocopters have become a common presence at airfields nationwide and at fly-ins; they have even started appearing at airshows. However, not many people are aware of the origins of these remarkable machines.

Titanium Autogyro (TAG)

Juan de la Cierva, a Spanish engineer and aeronautics enthusiast, took part in a design competition in 1921 to create a bomber for the Spanish military. He designed a three-engine aircraft, but during an early test flight, the bomber stalled and crashed. Troubled by the stall phenomenon, de la Cierva committed to developing an aircraft that could fly safely at low speeds. This led to the creation of the first successful rotorcraft, which he named the Autogiro in 1923. De la Cierva's autogyro featured an airplane fuselage with a forward-mounted propeller and engine, a rotor mounted on a mast, and both horizontal and vertical stabilizers.

De la Cierva created his C.6 model with the support of Spain's Military Aviation establishment, after using all his resources on the development and construction of the initial five prototypes.

The C.6 took its maiden flight in February 1925, with Captain Joaquín Loriga at the controls. It covered a distance of 6.5 miles from Cuatro Vientos airfield to Getafe airfield in approximately 8 minutes, marking a notable achievement for any rotorcraft during that era.

Cierva C.6

Following the success of the C.6, De la Cierva accepted an offer from Scottish industrialist James G. Weir to form the Cierva Autogiro Company in England. This decision came after a demonstration of the C.6 before the British Air Ministry at RAE Farnborough on 20 October 1925. Consequently, Britain became the global hub for autogyro development.

RAF Cierva Autogiro

A crash in February 1926, resulting from a blade root failure, prompted enhancements in rotor hub design. A drag hinge was introduced alongside the flapping hinge, allowing each blade to move forward and backward to alleviate in-plane stresses caused by the flapping motion. This advancement resulted in the Cierva C.8, which, on 18 September 1928, completed the first rotorcraft crossing of the English Channel and subsequently toured Europe.

An autogyro features a rotor that spins freely, driven by air passing upwards through it. The lift that keeps the autogyro airborne is generated by the vertical component of the rotor's total aerodynamic reaction. Forward thrust is provided by a separate propeller, which can be arranged in a tractor configuration with the engine and propeller at the front of the fuselage, or in a pusher configuration with the engine and propeller at the rear of the fuselage.

Sycamore MK1 Eagle

While a helicopter operates by pushing the rotor blades through the air and drawing air from above, the autogyro's rotor blade produces lift similarly to a glider's wing by altering the angle of the air as it moves upwards and backwards relative to the rotor blade. The freely spinning blades rotate through autorotation; the rotor blades are angled to provide lift, and this angle also increases the blades' rotation rate until the rotor spins at a stable speed where drag and thrust forces are balanced.

ELA Aviacion

Since the craft needs to move forward relative to the surrounding air to push air through the overhead rotor, autogyros typically cannot take off or land vertically (except in strong headwinds). Some models have demonstrated short take-off or landing capabilities.

ELA Aviacion ELA-07

Pitch control is managed by tilting the rotor forward and backward, while roll control is achieved by tilting the rotor sideways. There are three designs to adjust the rotor's tilt: a tilting hub, a swashplate, or servo-flaps. Yaw control is provided by a rudder. In pusher configuration autogyros, the rudder is usually positioned in the propeller slipstream to enhance yaw control at low airspeeds, although this is not always the case, as demonstrated by the McCulloch J-2, which features twin rudders located outside the propeller arc.

The three main flight controls are the control stick, rudder pedals, and throttle. The control stick, often called the cyclic, tilts the rotor in the desired direction to manage pitch and roll. However, some autogyros do not tilt the rotor relative to the airframe or do so only in one dimension, using conventional control surfaces to adjust the other degrees of freedom. The rudder pedals control yaw, while the throttle adjusts engine power.

Secondary flight controls include the rotor transmission clutch, also known as a pre-rotator, which, when engaged, drives the rotor to initiate spinning before take-off, and the collective pitch to decrease blade pitch before activating the rotor. While collective pitch controls are not typically installed on autogyros, they can be found on models like the Air & Space 18A, McCulloch J-2, and Westermayr Tragschrauber, offering near VTOL performance. Unlike helicopters, autogyros without collective pitch or an alternative jump start mechanism require a runway for take-off; however, they can land with a very short or zero ground roll. Similar to helicopters, each autogyro has a specific height–velocity diagram for safe operation, although the hazardous area is generally smaller than that of helicopters.

Modern autogyros generally adhere to one of two primary configurations. The most prevalent design is the pusher configuration, which positions the engine and propeller behind the pilot and rotor mast. This design was developed by Igor Bensen in the years following World War II and quickly gained widespread popularity.

Wagtail Aviation

The tractor configuration is less frequently seen today. In this setup, the engine and propeller are positioned at the front of the aircraft, in front of the pilot and rotor mast. This was the main configuration in early autogyros but became less prevalent with the development of helicopters.

In 2002, a Hawk 4 from Groen Brothers Aviation was used for perimeter patrol during the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. Over its 90-day operational contract, the aircraft successfully completed 67 missions and logged 75 hours of flight time without requiring maintenance.

Hawk 4

Between 2009 and 2010, over a span of 18 months, the German pilot couple Melanie and Andreas Stützfor completed the first global journey by autogyro. During this tour, they piloted various types of gyroplanes across Europe, southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and South America.

The adventure was documented in the book "WELTFLUG – The Gyroplane Dream" and in the film "Weltflug.tv - The Gyrocopter World Tour".

Many world records have been established over the years in various Gyrocopters dating back to 1931.

In 1931, Amelia Earhart (USA) flew a Pitcairn PCA-2 to a women's world altitude record of 18,415 ft.

Wing Commander Ken Wallis (UK) held the majority of the autogyro world records throughout his flying career. These records include a time-to-climb, a speed record of 111.7 mph, and a straight-line distance record of 540.11 miles. On 16 November 2002, at the age of 89, Wallis raised the speed record to 129.1 mph and simultaneously became the oldest pilot to set a world record.

Wing Commander Ken Wallis

The autogyro remains one of the few aircraft types that has yet to complete a global circumnavigation. Expedition Global Eagle marked the first historical attempt to achieve this feat using an autogyro. During the journey, the expedition established a record for the longest autogyro flight over water on the leg from Muscat, Oman, to Karachi. However, the attempt was ultimately halted due to adverse weather conditions after covering a total distance of 7,500 miles.

Expedition Global Eagle

By 2014, Andrew Keech from the USA held multiple records. In October 2003, he piloted his self-constructed Little Wing Autogyro "Woodstock" on a transcontinental journey from Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to San Diego, California, setting three world speed records over a recognized course. These records were confirmed by tower personnel or official observers from the United States' National Aeronautic Association (NAA). On February 9, 2006, he surpassed two of his previous world records and established a distance record, which was validated by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI): Speed over a 500 km (311 mi) closed circuit without payload: 104.57 mph, speed over a 1,000 km (621 mi) closed circuit without payload: 102.57 mph, and distance over a closed circuit without landing: 1,019.09 km (633.23 mi).

Little Wing Autogyro

On November 7, 2015, Italian astrophysicist and pilot Donatella Ricci embarked on a flight with a MagniGyro M16 from the Caposile aerodrome in Venice, aiming to establish a new world altitude record. She ascended to 8,138.46 meters (26,701 feet), surpassing the women's world altitude record that Amelia Earhart had held for 84 years. The next day, she pushed the altitude even higher, reaching 27,556 feet, and set a new world altitude record for an autogyro.

Magni Gyro

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