An autogyro, also known as a gyroplane or gyrocopter, is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, typically by an engine-driven propeller. While similar to a helicopter rotor in appearance, the autogyro's rotor must have air flowing across the rotor disc to generate rotation, and the air flows upwards through the rotor disc rather than down.
The Cierva C.30 was an autogyro designed by Juan de la Cierva and built under licence from the Cierva Autogiro Company by A V Roe & Co Ltd (Avro), Lioré-et-Olivier and Focke-Wulf.
A rotorcraft or rotary-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine that uses lift generated by wings, called rotary wings or rotor blades, that revolve around a mast. Several rotor blades mounted on a single mast are referred to as a rotor. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) defines a rotorcraft as "supported in flight by the reactions of the air on one or more rotors". Rotorcraft generally include those aircraft where one or more rotors are required to provide lift throughout the entire flight, such as helicopters, autogyros, and gyrodynes. Compound rotorcraft may also include additional thrust engines or propellers and static lifting surfaces.
The McCulloch Aircraft Corporation was the aircraft division of the McCulloch Motors Corporation. McCulloch acquired Helicopter Engineering Research Corp in 1951. It manufactured two innovative helicopter designs — the tandem-rotor MC-4 and the J-2 autogyro.
Aero Resources was established at Gardena, California in 1970 to manufacture Drago Jovanovich's J-2 autogyro. It offered an improved version of the aircraft as the Super J-2, but was unable to obtain enough orders to make production viable.
The Pitcairn OP-1 was the first rotary-wing aircraft to be seriously evaluated by any of the world's major air forces. The machine was not a helicopter, nor an airplane, but an autogyro. Pitcairn's model was never put into production for any military.
Aeronáutica Industrial S.A. is a Spanish aeronautical company. The predecessor company, Talleres Loring had been founded by Jorge Loring in 1923.
The Bensen Aircraft Corporation was established by Dr. Igor Bensen at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina in 1952 to develop and market a variety of helicopters and autogyros of Bensen's own design.
The Armstrong Siddeley Genet was a five-cylinder, air-cooled, radial engine for aircraft use built in the UK, first run in 1926. It developed 80 hp at 2,200 rpm in its final form and was a popular light aircraft powerplant. Following the company tradition with a slight deviation the engine was named after the Genet, a catlike animal of the same order but different family.
The Cierva C.9 was an experimental autogyro built by Cierva in England in 1927, in association with Avro. It was the first of Cierva's autogyro designs to feature an original, purpose-built fuselage. Two examples were built - a single-seat machine and a two-seater.
The Cierva C.19 was a 1930s British two-seat autogyro, designed by Spanish engineer Juan de la Cierva. It was built by Avro as the Avro Type 620. It proved to be the most successful and widely produced of the early de la Cierva designs.
The Kellett Autogiro Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer from 1929 based in Philadelphia, named after founder W. Wallace Kellett.
The Pitcairn PA-18 was an autogyro produced in the United States in the early 1930s.
The Pitcairn PA-19 was a four-seat autogyro developed in the United States in the early 1930s. While most of Pitcairn's autogyro designs featured open cockpits in tandem, the PA-19 had a fully enclosed cabin. It also had wings that carried control surfaces. The rotor provided lift only, but could be tilted in flight to trim the aircraft. Four examples were built before the effects of the Great Depression forced Pitcairn to abandon autogyro production in 1934.
The Ekin WHE Airbuggy is a British single-seat autogyro designed and built by the W. H. Ekin (Engineering) Company in Northern Ireland.
The Wallis WA-116 Agile is a British autogyro developed in the early 1960s by former Royal Air Force Wing Commander Ken Wallis. The aircraft was produced in a number of variants, one of which, nicknamed Little Nellie, was flown in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice.
Étienne Dormoy was an aeronautical engineer and a designer of aircraft.
Amax Engineering was an Australian aircraft manufacturer based in Donvale, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne. When it was in business the company specialized in the design and manufacture of kit aircraft for amateur construction. The company designed and supplied kits and plans for both fixed-wing aircraft and autogyros.
AutoGyro GmbH is a German aircraft manufacturer based in Hildesheim. The company specializes in the design and manufacture of autogyros in the form of fully assembled, ready to fly aircraft.
