| C.19 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Cierva C.19 Mk IV (Avro 620), D-2300 ex-G-ABUE | |
| Role | Utility autogyro |
| Manufacturer | Cierva |
| Designer | Juan de la Cierva |
| First flight | 1929 |
| Number built | >30 |
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.
De la Cierva's first successful autogyro, the Cierva C.6, used an Avro 504 fuselage, and this led to a long and close collaboration between de la Cierva and Avro from 1926 onwards, with de la Cierva providing the rotor design, and Avro the airframe from designs that often appeared as both fixed-wing and rotary aircraft. There was a long series of such autogyros, developing the rotary wing concept. However the 1929 C.19 [1] , [2] was a de la Cierva design, owing nothing to existing Avro aircraft, though it was built by Avro at Hamble.
Like the earlier aircraft, the C.19 had a conventional airframe, a two-seat fuselage carrying a small-span wing with ailerons (to relieve rotor loads in level forward flight), and a single radial engine in the nose. The unpowered, free-spinning rotor had four wire-braced blades, or three cantilever blades in the Mk IV, and was mounted on four struts over the forward cockpit which met together to form a pyramid. The C.19 Mk I – IV did not have the tilting rotor head and associated hanging control column of later autogyros like the Cierva C.30. Instead, control was by the ailerons, elevators and rudder via a conventional column, a system that only worked effectively when the airspeed was high enough.
A major engineering refinement in the C.19 was the means to mechanically start the main rotor spinning; in earlier de la Cierva designs, the rotor had to be turned by hand or by pulling a rope, unless there was space for a takeoff run. In the C.19 Mk I, this was done aerodynamically. The tail unit of this mark was a biplane structure with endplate fins and rudders. To start the rotor, elevators and tailplanes were fixed in a near vertical position and the engine started. The wash from the propeller was deflected upwards by the tail unit through the rotor, rotating it. For the first time, this made the autogyro independent of ground crew when starting, and private ownership was a practical proposition.
The 80 hp (60 kW) Armstrong Siddeley Genet II made the Mk I machine underpowered, and it was replaced in the C.19 Mk II by a 105 hp (78 kW) Genet Major I. The C.19 Mk IIA, introduced in 1930, had a longer undercarriage and improved rotor head. Landings were often made at high angles of attack, so the rudders of the C.19 Mk III were reshaped to slope sharply upwards to avoid damage; this variant also had a 5 ft (1.52 m) increase in rotor diameter.
In the C.19 Mk IV, the rotor was started directly from the engine via a clutch mechanism, as in all future autogyros. This allowed the elaborate biplane empennage to be replaced by a more conventional monoplane tailplane. The single central fin was low and of correspondingly deep chord, to avoid being struck by the rotor. The C.19 Mk IV had a three-bladed, 34-foot-diameter (10 m) cantilever rotor. The designation C.19 Mk IVP was also used, the "P" standing for production, that started in 1931.
The final variant was the solitary C.19 Mk V, G-ABXP. [3] The aircraft-style controls of earlier autogyros depended on airflow past ailerons, rudders and elevators; during the slow forward speed phases of takeoff and landing, these were ineffective, and accidents resulted. The C.19 Mk V lacked the small wing and all-moving control surfaces, relying instead on a tilting rotor head. Using a long control arm that reached to the rear cockpit, the pilot could direct the aircraft by tilting the plane of rotation of the rotor. After a period of experimentation, the C.19 Mk V flew with a small fixed tailplane and a two-bladed rotor. This control system was adopted for the Cierva C.30.
Some thirty examples were built in England, with licences acquired by Focke-Wulf to produce it in Germany (as the C.20) and by Lioré et Olivier in France (as the C.21), although no actual French production took place.
Initially, all fifteen C.19 Mk IVPs appeared on the British civil register. [4] One was used in an attempted flight to South Africa, although it only reached Tunis. Later, it flew with Alan Cobham's Circus. Another went to an autogyro flying school at London Air Park, Hanworth. Several machines were reregistered abroad: in Australia, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain (one for the Spanish Air Force) and Sweden.
During the early 1930s, the Royal Air Force operated two C.19 Mk IIIs for evaluation of the autogyro concept (serials K1696 and K1948). [5]
An Avro-built C.19 Mk.IVP (EC-AIM) is on display at the Museo del Aire, Cuatro Vientos, Madrid, Spain.
General characteristics
Performance
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
Related lists
Juan de la Cierva y Codorníu, 1st Count of la Cierva was a Spanish civil engineer, pilot and aeronautical engineer. His most famous accomplishment was the invention in 1920 of the first helicopter called Autogiro, a single-rotor type of aircraft that came to be called autogyro in the English language. In 1923, after four years of experimentation, De la Cierva developed the articulated rotor, which resulted in the world's first successful flight of a stable rotary-wing aircraft, with his C.4 prototype.
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.
The Cierva C.6 was the sixth autogyro designed by engineer Juan de la Cierva, and the first one to travel a "major" distance. Cierva, the engineer responsible for the invention of the autogyro, had spent all his funds on the research and creation of his first five prototypes. Therefore, in 1923, he turned to the Cuatro Vientos Aerodynamics Laboratory chief, Commander Emilio Herrera, who succeeded in persuading General Francisco Echagüe, the director of the Military Aviation Aeronautics Department, to take over the second stage in the research and development of Cierva's autogyros.
The Armstrong Siddeley Genet Major is a British five-cylinder, air-cooled, radial engine for aircraft, designed and built by Armstrong Siddeley and first run in 1928. It developed 140 horsepower (104 kW). In Royal Air Force use the seven-cylinder version was known as the Civet I. The Feliform names used are in line with company convention, the Genet and Civet both being large cat-like carnivores.
The Avro Avian was a series of British light aircraft designed and built by Avro in the 1920s and 1930s. While the various versions of the Avian were sound aircraft, they were comprehensively outsold by the de Havilland Moth and its descendants.
The Avro Cadet was a single-engined British biplane trainer designed and built by Avro in the 1930s as a smaller development of the Avro Tutor for civil use.
The Avro Club Cadet was a 1930s single-engined British biplane trainer aircraft, designed and built by Avro as a development of the earlier Cadet. It was planned for private and club use and, unlike the Cadet, was fitted with folding wings.
The Blackburn L.1 Bluebird was a British single-engine biplane light trainer/tourer with side-by-side seating, built in small numbers by Blackburn Aircraft in the 1920s.
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.8 was an experimental autogyro built by Juan de la Cierva in England in 1926 in association with Avro. Like Cierva's earlier autogyros, the C.8s were based on existing fixed-wing aircraft fuselages – in this case, the Avro 552.
The Cierva C.17 was a British experimental autogyro built by Cierva Autogiro Company in England in 1928, in association with Avro. It was an attempt to build upon the successful Cierva C.8 design using the smaller, more streamlined fuselage of an Avro Avian IIIA as a starting point. The type was found to be underpowered, and when the first attempt at fitting a more powerful engine still did not result in acceptable performance, the design was abandoned.
The Kellett KD-1 was a 1930s American autogyro built by the Kellett Autogiro Company. It had the distinction of being the first practical rotary-wing aircraft used by the United States Army and inaugurated the first scheduled air-mail service using a rotary-wing aircraft.
The Southern Martlet was a single-engined, single-seat biplane sports aircraft. Six were built, including the rather different and unsuccessful Metal Martlet.
The Handley Page HP.32 Hamlet was a British six-passenger monoplane transport designed and built by Handley Page. Only one was built to order of the Air Ministry, first flown with three-engines, later changed to two then back to three engines.
The Civilian Coupé is a British, single-engined two-seat private monoplane built starting in 1929. Only five were made and it was the Civilian Aircraft Company's only product, but one still flies in the UK.
The Cierva C.40 was a British autogyro designed by G.B.L. Ellis, Otto Reder, and J.A.J Bennett and assembled by the British Aircraft Manufacturing Company at London Air Park, Hanworth.
The Junkers T 19, originally known as the J 19, was a single-engined parasol winged all-metal 2/3-seat aircraft built in Germany in the early 1920s for training and touring. Its construction was too expensive for commercial success and only three were built, one later finding use as an engine test-bed.
The Cierva C.29 was a five-seat British cabin autogyro built in 1934 as a joint venture between Westland Aircraft and Cierva. The rotor system and rotors were designed by Cierva and the fuselage by Westland. It was powered by a 600 hp (447 kW) Armstrong Siddeley Panther II engine with a two-bladed tractor propeller; the engine also drove the three-bladed rotor via a clutched shaft. The C.29 suffered from ground resonance during ground running and was not flown. It was later acquired for evaluation by the Royal Aircraft Establishment but it was unable to cure the resonance problem and the autogyro was scrapped in 1939.
The TsAGI A-4, sometimes anglicised as CAHI A-4 or ZAGI A-4, was an early Russian autogyro, influenced by Cierva designs and delivered in small numbers to the Soviet Air Force in 1934.
The SEA.1 was a Belgian, multi-purpose, light twin engine monoplane flown in 1936. Only one was built; it was later converted into a single engine aircraft and used by the military.
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cierva C.19 . |