Development of the Autogiro

The concept of vertical flight dates at least to around 400 B.C., to the Chinese flying top, which was a stick with a propeller on top of it (Johnson, 1980). The stick was spun with the hands, and then released to fly vertically. Some 2,000 years later, Leonardo da Vinci, in Italy, made sketches of a vertical flying machine, which would employ a screwtype propeller (Gablehouse, 1967). da Vinci is usually credited with the development of the concept of the helicopter (Angelucci, 1973). da Vinci's machine would not have flown, however, because of stability problems which he did not envision (Johnson, 1980).

From da Vinci's time in the fifteenth century through the end of the nineteenth century, many inventors in several countriesRussia, France, and England, primarilyconcerned themselves with helicopter development (Johnson, 1980). None were

able to develop a successful craft, because of inabilities to fully solve the three principle barriers to successful vertical flight(1) a light and reliable power source, (2) a light and strong rotor, hub, and blade structure, which would maintain aerodynamic efficiency, and (3) a means of overcoming problems related to torque, which cause helicopters to b

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980). As a consequence, de La Cieva turned his energies and talents toward the development of a craft with a low takeoff and landing speed, which would not stall, if the pilot dropped the speed excessively, and which would remain controllable, if a stall did occur (Gabelhouse, 1967). The results of his efforts was the autogiro. In an autogiro, a windmilllike rotor replaces the aircraft wing, while retaining most other design features of a fixedwing aircraft, including an engine with a propeller to provide propulsion force. With no power directly to the rotor, neither hover nor vertical flight was possible with the autogrio, although the craft was capable of very slow flight (Johnson, 1980). The autogiro's ability to fly very slow, while reamining controllable, stemmed from the automatic activity of the rotor, which was caused, in turn, by the airflow from the propeller, and generated through forward flight. The automatic action of the rotor, the source of the name for the autogiro, 4provided additional lift, which enhanced stability at low flight speeds. The rotor blades on the autogiro was flexible, and it was this flexibility which accounted for its success in maintaining stability at low speeds (Johnson, 1980).
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Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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