Autogyros: WWII's Contribution to Helicopter Development

A Cierva C.30 circa 1951. Photo sourced from WikiCommons.

All technology has to start somewhere. Before we could get to images of Bell Hueys depositing U.S troops in Vietnam, we had to have several generations of helicopters developed, as well as find various military uses for such aircraft. Before even the spartan helicopters seen on "M*A*S*H", we had the autogyro, and it played a small but vital role in World War II and afterward.

The autogyro was first successfully flown in 1923. In concept it's similar to a helicopter in that it has a rotary wing that provides lift. Unlike a helicopter, for an autogyro to achieve lift it must have a propeller push it forward, making the rotor spin in the wind fast enough.

The autogyro was adopted by the air forces of both Germany and Britain because of its low maintenance requirements and its short takeoff requirements. The Germans used autogyros as reconnaissance tools to aid the U-Boat hunting packs off the coast of mainland Europe. The British, however, used autogyros like the Cierva C.30 to calibrate the coastal radar installations that were so crucial during the Battle of Britain in 1940.

While this was the main extent of autogyros in World War II, it was through experimentation on these aircraft that helicopter pioneers like Igor Sikorsky were able to make the breakthroughs necessary to make the first operational helicopters in the late 1940s. The rest, as they say, is history. Until next time take care, and thanks for reading.

(Facts sourced from "World War II" by H.P Willmott, Robin Cross, and Charles Messenger, as well as Wikipedia on autogyros.)