The Cierva Autogiro Company was a British firm established in 1926 to develop the

autogyro An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), gyroscope, gyrocopter or gyroplane, is a class of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. A gyroplane "means a rotorcraft whose rotors are not engine-d ...

. The company was set up to further the designs of

Juan de la Cierva Juan de la Cierva y Codorníu, 1st Count of la Cierva (; 21 September 1895 – 9 December 1936), was a Spanish civil engineer, pilot and a self-taught aeronautical engineer. His most famous accomplishment was the invention in 1920 of a rotorcr ...

, a Spanish engineer and pilot, with the financial backing of James George Weir, a Scottish industrialist and aviator.

History

Juan de la Cierva's first British-built autogyro was the C.8 design. It and some other designs were built in conjunction with

Avro Avro (an initialism of the founder's name) was a British aircraft manufacturer. Its designs include the Avro 504, used as a trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the d ...

. The pre-war Cierva C.30 proved popular. Nearly 150 were built under licence in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

by Focke-Wulf, and in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

by Lioré-et-Olivier. On 9 December 1936, Cierva was killed in the Croydon KLM airliner accident when the aircraft in which he was a passenger crashed after taking off in fog. Dr. James Allan Jamieson Bennett was promoted to Chief Technical Officer of the company and remained in the position until leaving in 1939. In addition to making important contributions to autogyro controls while at Cierva Autogyro, Bennett carried through with Cierva's decision to offer the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

an aircraft capable of true vertical flight. Bennett's innovative design, a new type of

rotorcraft A rotary-wing aircraft, rotorwing aircraft or rotorcraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft with rotor wing, rotary wings that spin around a vertical mast to generate lift (force), lift. Part 1 (Definitions and Abbreviations) of Subchapter A of Chapt ...

that combined key features of the autogyro and helicopter, was tendered to the Air Ministry ( Specification S.22/38) as the Cierva C.41 Gyrodyne, but preliminary work was abandoned with the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Bennett joined

Fairey Aviation The Fairey Aviation Company Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer of the first half of the 20th century based in Hayes, Hillingdon, Hayes in Middlesex and Heaton Chapel and RAF Ringway in Cheshire that designed important military aircraft ...

in 1945, where he continued the development of the C.41 design to create the first gyrodyne, the Fairey FB-1, that first flew in 1947. In 1943, the Aircraft Department of G & J Weir Ltd. was reconstituted as the Cierva Autogiro Company to develop helicopter designs for the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

. The post-war Cierva Air Horse was at the time (1948) the world's largest helicopter. The first prototype of the Air Horse crashed killing Alan Marsh, Cierva's manager and chief test pilotMarsh had been with Cierva since 1932 and had been its instructor at the autogyro flying school. During

he had flown autogyros for radar development John "Jeep" Cable,Cable had learnt to fly under Marsh and had been a Cierva employee before world War II. During World War II, he had been commanding officer of the Research, Development and Training Unit for Rotary-Wing Aircraft. Ministry of Supply Chief Helicopter Test Pilot, and J. K. Unsworth the Flight Engineer. This led Weir to cease further investment in the company and its development contracts were transferred to Saunders-Roe.

Aircraft

* Cierva C.1 * Cierva C.2 * Cierva C.3 * Cierva C.4 * Cierva C.5 * Cierva C.6 * Cierva C.7

British-built aircraft

* Cierva C.8 * Cierva C.9 * Cierva C.10 * Cierva C.12 (first flight 1929) - first autogyro with floats *Cierva C.13 - flying boat autogiro (project only) *Cierva C.14 * Cierva C.17 * Cierva C.19 * Cierva C.20 Focke-Wulf licence-built version of C.19 * Cierva C.21 Lioré et Olivier licence-built version of C.19 (not built) * Cierva C.24 *Cierva C.25 *Cierva C.26 - twin-engine autogiro (project only); designation re-used for modified C.24 * Cierva C.29 * Cierva C.30 *Cierva C.32 - two-seat coupe autogiro (project only) *Cierva C.33 - four seat autogiro based on the Avro Type 641 Commodore (project only) *Cierva C.37 - twin engine, twin boom autogiro with 45-foot diameter rotor (project only) *Cierva C.38 *Cierva C.39 - two or three fleet spotter autogiro (project only) * Cierva C.40 * Weir W.1 - W.4 - Four prototypes of single-place autogiro. Abandoned when development of W.5 helicopter commenced. * Weir W.5 (first flight 1938) - 2-seater twin (outrigger) rotor helicopter with wooden frame; engine was a 50 hp 4-cylinder air-cooled Weir * Weir W.6 (first flight 1939) - twin rotor helicopter, 200 hp de Havilland Gipsy, metal tube frame *

Cierva W.9 The Cierva W.9 was a British 1940s experimental helicopter with a three-blade tilting-hub controlled main rotor, and torque compensation achieved using a jet of air discharged from the rear port side of the fuselage. The design was not further d ...

(first flight 1945) - experimental helicopter to E.16/43, used shaft-driven hydraulically-actuated tilting hub for rotor control, and blown air for torque control and direction, one built * Cierva W.11 Air Horse (first flight 1948) - heavy lift helicopter development of W.6 design, two built *Cierva W.14 Skeeter (first flight 1948) - from 1951 the Saunders-Roe Skeeter * Cierva CR Twin (first flight 1969)

Notes and references

;Notes ;Citations ;Bibliography
CIERVA AUTOGIRO Co., Ltd
''Flight'' DECEMBER 9, 1926 p810 {{Authority control Technology companies established in 1926 Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United Kingdom Defunct helicopter manufacturers of the United Kingdom 1926 establishments in England Technology companies disestablished in 1948 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1926 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1948 1948 disestablishments in England British companies disestablished in 1948 British companies established in 1926