WA-116 Agile | |
---|---|
Little Nellie, pictured with its creator Ken Wallis in the cockpit | |
Role | Single-seat autogyro |
National origin | United Kingdom |
Manufacturer | Wallis Autogyros Limited |
Designer | Ken Wallis |
First flight | 2 August 1961 |
Number built | 10+ |
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 . Little Nellie and another sixteen of his autogyros are on static display at the Land Rover showroom owned by his second cousin, in Barton, Cambridgeshire.
Wing Commander Ken Wallis, a former RAF pilot, developed a number of improvements to the autogyro design, including the offset gimbal rotor head which gives the autogyro hands-off stability. [1] Wallis' first prototype autogyro, registered G-ARRT, was first flown on 2 August 1961. [2]
In 1962, five WA-116s were built by Beagle Aircraft at Shoreham, three of which were for evaluation by the British Army Air Corps. Wallis flew one of these aircraft, XR942, at that year's Farnborough Air Show. [2]
In 1966, one of the Beagle-built WA-116s, registered G-ARZB, was modified for use in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice . [3] Little Nellie was named after legendary music hall performer Nellie Wallace. [4]
Few Wallis autogyros have been operated privately, with nearly all of them being used for research and demonstration flying by Wallis himself. [3] Wallis withdrew all his autogyros from use by anyone other than himself, after the crash of WA-117 G-AXAR at the 1970 Farnborough Air Show. [5]
Data from British Civil Aircraft since 1919 – Volume 3, [2] Flight 31 March 1966 : The Wallis Autogyros [8]
General characteristics
Performance
Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
Related lists
The Kamov Ka-8 "Иркутянин",, was a small, single-seat Soviet helicopter that first flew in 1947. It was a precursor of the Ka-10. The Ka-8 was powered by a 27 hp M-76 engine, boosted to 45 hp by using alcohol for fuel. It was derived from a previous Kamov design, the KA-17.
The Bensen B-8 is a small, single-seat autogyro developed in the United States in the 1950s. Although the original manufacturer stopped production in 1987, plans for homebuilders are still available as of 2019. Its design was a refinement of the Bensen B-7, and like that aircraft, the B-8 was initially built as an unpowered rotor-kite. It first flew in this form in 1955, and on 6 December a powered version, designated B-8M first flew. The design proved to be extremely popular and long-lasting, with thousands of sets of plans sold over the next thirty years.
Wing Commander Kenneth Horatio Wallis was a British aviator, engineer, and inventor. During the Second World War, Wallis served in the Royal Air Force and flew 28 bomber missions over Germany; after the war, he moved on to research and development, before retiring in 1964. He later became one of the leading exponents of autogyros and earned 34 world records, still holding eight of them at the time of his death in 2013.
The McCulloch J-2 was a small, two-seat autogyro with an enclosed cabin, one of only three designs of this type of aircraft to receive a type certificate in the United States. It was built by McCulloch Aircraft Corporation.
The Cierva W.11 Air Horse was a helicopter developed by the Cierva Autogiro Company in the United Kingdom during the mid-1940s. The largest helicopter in the world at the time of its debut, the Air Horse was unusual for using three rotors mounted on outriggers, and driven by a single engine mounted inside the fuselage.
The Kayaba Ka-1 and Ka-2 were Japanese autogyros, seeing service during World War II for artillery spotting.
The Cierva C.8 is 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.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 KD-1 is 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 Wallis WA-120 is an experimental British autogyro developed by Ken Wallis.
The KB-2 Freedom Machine is an autogyro designed by Ken Brock based on the designs of the Bensen B-8.
The Hafner A.R.III Gyroplane was a British 1930s experimental autogyro designed by Austrian Raoul Hafner, and built by the A.R.III Construction Company at Denham, Buckinghamshire.
The Rotor Flight Dynamics Dominator is an American autogyro designed by Ernie Boyette of Rotor Flight Dynamics of Wimauma, Florida, and made available in the form of plans and kits for amateur construction.
The Celier Kiss is a series of Polish autogyros that was designed by Frenchman Raphael Celier and produced by his company, Celier Aviation of Jaktorów-Kolonia, Poland. When it was available the aircraft was supplied as a kit for amateur construction or as a complete ready-to-fly-aircraft.
The Midwest Hornet is an American autogyro that was designed by Don Shoebridge and made available by Midwest Engineering & Design in the form of free plans for amateur construction.
The Taggart GyroBee is an American autogyro that was designed by Ralph E. Taggart of Michigan State University and made available as free documentation. The aircraft is also produced in kit form by Star Bee Gyros of Worcester, Massachusetts for amateur construction.
The Kharkov KhAI-24 was a 1960s Soviet two-seat autogyro designed by the Kharkiv Aviation Institute.
The Little Wing Roto-Pup is an American autogyro that was designed and produced by Little Wing Autogyros, Inc. of Mayflower, Arkansas, introduced in the 1990s. Now out of production, when it was available the aircraft was supplied as a kit for amateur construction.
The Aviomania G1SA Genesis Solo is a Cypriot autogyro that was designed by Nicolas Karaolides and produced by Aviomania of Larnaca. Now out of production, when it was available the aircraft was supplied as a complete ready-to-fly-aircraft or as a kit for amateur construction.
The Tervamäki ATE-3 is a single-seat autogyro developed in Finland by Jukka Tervamäki and Aulis Eerola in the late 1960s and whose plans were distributed for amateur construction. Other than the designers' own prototype, at least three others were built in Finland and Denmark, The designation stands for Autogyro Tervamäki Eerola, and followed Tervamäki's JT-1 and JT-2 designs. An ATE-3 played a prominent role in a Finnish gangster film of 1969, Leikkikalugangsteri.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)