Aeronautics: For Sale: Autogiros

For Sale Autogiros

One day in August 1929 the crowds at the National Air Races in Cleveland tittered with amused wonderment to see a winged windmill plump itself down like a weary old hen in midfield. Since then the U. S. public has known, more or less vaguely, that the weird machine was an autogiro; that it was supposed to rise almost vertically, descend slowly and vertically; that it was undergoing some sort of experiments at the hands of its inventor, Senor Juan de la Cierva and its U. S. promoter, Harold F. Pitcairn, manufacturer of airplanes. But it was still a strange and dubious invention, remote from any popular notion of practical flying — until last week when two things happened: 1) Autogiro Co. of America advertised to the public that autogiros may now be bought, and 2) Detroit News bought and received the first commercial autogiro in the world. Next month one will be taken by Standard Oil Co. of New York and one by Horizon Co., subsidiary of Silver Brook Anthracite Co. specially formed to operate the ship because the coal company's rules forbid its officers to fly. Last month the Navy ordered one for experiment (TIME, Feb. 9). Some purport to see in the autogiro the means of putting aviation on a new basis, viz, the long-dreamed of "flying for everybody." The autogiro can take off from a space no larger than 100 ft., land on a spot considerably smaller, practically anywhere. It can fly 120 m. p. h. or 20 m. p. h., maintaining perfect stability in either case. If the motor should "conk," the autogiro would behave exactly as if the pilot had deliberately shut off the power for a landing : it would settle earth ward at 14 ft. per sec. (slower than the drop of a man with a parachute), while the pilot maneuvered toward a flat space — say 50 ft. square (a front lawn, perhaps) for a perfect landing. And what is all-important, those operations are much simpler than piloting an airplane. Even the novice could do little damage unless he flew the autogiro directly into collision, or landed it on a church steeple, powerline, or crowded street. First complete description of the autogiro, with technical details, appeared last week in the March issue of FORTUNE.

The Machine. An autogiro has a fuselage and tail surfaces like that of the conventional airplane; also it has the usual motor & propeller in its nose, and uncommonly wide landing gear. But in place of a wing is an abortive stub with upturned tips, affixed as on a low-wing monoplane, to provide lateral stability, to carry the ailerons and to provide a mounting for the undercarriage. The real supporting surfaces (i. e. wings) are embodied in four great rotating blades, or vanes, affixed to an upright tripod. It is this rotor that gives the ship its windmill appearance and that accounts for its amazing stability. Because the blades are turned not by the engine but simply by the wind induced by the ship's motion, the rotor is not a propeller, and the autogiro is not to be confused with a helicopter. Rotation of the rotors cannot stop so long as the craft is in the air.