VERTICAL TAKE-OFF

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20107, 14 May 1935, Page 2

VERTICAL TAKE-OFF

NO PRELIMINARY RUN (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, March 19. Announcement that an autogiro “windmill’ ’plane had successfully made direct take-offs without any preliminary forward run over the ground was made by Mr Juan de la Cierva, the Spanish inventor of the autogiro, in the course of a lecture before the Royal Aeronautical Society four days ago. He said that further experin»:?nts were being conducted; when fully developed, the machine, which is lifted by rotating vanes instead of the fixed wings of .the ordinary aeroplane, should be able to jump high enough in the initial impetus of take-off to clear small houses and trees from a distance of a few yards.

This new attribute of the autogiro is gained without abandonment of any of the essential features of the machine. It does not become a helicopter, in which a power-driven screw lifts the machine vertically. Briefly, the rotor consists in a system of variable pitch blades or vanes. These blades are set to zero pitch on to the ground and are spun at high speed by the engine, to which they are temporarily connected through a clutch and gearing. When a given speed of rotation is attained, the engine is declutched, the pitch of the blades is increased to normal and the machine spins itself up into the air. Mr de la Cierva showed a film of an experimental machine which took off directly in no wind. Chocks were placed in front of the wheels to hold the craft stationary. The mechanism cf the pitch change operates automatically, and the actual manoeuvre is stated to be simple and pleasant. Mr de la Cierva stated that a large number of autogiro machines manufactured by the Avro company, which acquired a licence from the inventor last year, was now in service, not only in Great Britain but In many other parts of the world. The machine at present marketed by the Avro concern is the two-seater C. 30 type, powered with a Siddeley Genet Major 140 h.p radial motor. It has direct control, and employs no rudder, elevators, or ailerons; full control in every evolution is provided by movement of a single lever which changes the angle of tilt of the rotor axis relative to the fuselage. Anywhere an Aerodrome? The inventor believes that successful development of the direct take-off machine —work on which he is now engaged—will allow use of fields with any kind of surface, ploughed, stony or marshy, as “aerodromes.” He considers roof landings and ascents practical propositions, “in certain cases at least.” Initial take-off jumps up to heights of the order of 60 to 100 feet are theoretically possible, but he thinks that for practical uses an initial jump of some 20 feet is all that is necessary.