The Cierva C.12 was an experimental autogyro built by
Cierva Autogiro Company
The Cierva Autogiro Company was a British firm established in 1926 to develop the autogyro.
The company was set up to further the designs of Juan de la Cierva, a Spanish engineer and pilot, with the financial backing of James George Weir, a Scot ...
in England in 1929, in association with
Avro.
Development
Like most other Cierva designs, it was based on an existing aircraft fuselage - in this case, an
Avro Avian
The Avro Avian was a series of British light aircraft designed and built by Avro in the 1920s and 1930s. While the various versions of the Avian were sound aircraft, they were comprehensively outsold by the de Havilland Moth and its descenda ...
.
Operational history
The most significant thing about this aircraft is that after initial tests, the Avian's second cockpit was removed, and the aircraft's undercarriage was replaced by the same floats used to equip standard Avian seaplanes. In this configuration, the C.12 (now dubbed the Hydrogiro) flew from
Southampton Water
Southampton Water is a tidal estuary north of the Solent and the Isle of Wight in England. The city of Southampton lies at its most northerly point, where the estuaries of the River Test and River Itchen meet. Along its salt marsh-fringed we ...
in April 1930, becoming the first rotary-wing aircraft to take off from water.
See also
References
;Notes
;Bibliography
*
*
{{Loring aircraft
1920s British experimental aircraft
Single-engined tractor autogyros
Aircraft first flown in 1929
C.12