The Hafner A.R.III Gyroplane was a British 1930s

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

autogyro An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), also known as a ''gyroplane'', is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller. ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Raoul Hafner Raoul Hafner, (1905–1980) FEng, FRAes, was an Austrian-born British helicopter pioneer and engineer. He made a distinctive contribution to the British aerospace industry, particularly in the development of helicopters. Life Born in 1905, he ...

, and built by the A.R.III Construction Company at

Denham, Buckinghamshire Denham is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, approximately from central London, northwest of Uxbridge and just north of junction 1 of the M40 motorway. The name is derived from the Old English f ...

Design and development

The single-seat Gyroplane had a three-blade auto-rotating rotor fitted above the fuselage on a strutted plyon. A

Pobjoy Niagara The Pobjoy Niagara is a British seven-cylinder, air-cooled, radial, aero-engine first produced in 1934. The design ran at higher speeds than conventional engines, and used reduction gearing to lower the speed of the propeller. This led to a not ...

radial piston engine was mounted on the fuselage nose. It had fixed tailwheel landing gear and the rear fuselage included a large dorsal fin to provide directional stability. An unusual feature was the control system which was equipped with spider-actuated cyclic and collective pitch control of the rotor blades; this mechanism, a variant of the swashplate-actuated rotor control, became a standard feature on helicopters. In 1935, the Gyroplane was manufactured at the Martin-Baker Aircraft Company's factory at Denham, Buckinghamshire. In autumn 1935, the Gyroplane,

registered Registered may refer to: * Registered mail, letters, packets or other postal documents considered valuable and in need of a chain of custody * Registered trademark symbol, symbol ® that provides notice that the preceding is a trademark or service ...

''G-ADMV'', first flew at

Heston Aerodrome Heston Aerodrome was an airfield located to the west of London, England, operational between 1929 and 1947. It was situated on the border of the Heston and Cranford areas of Hounslow, Middlesex. In September 1938, the British Prime Minister, ...

, piloted by V.H. Baker.Flight, 19 September 1935, p. 318 On 6 February 1937, it flew at

Hanworth Air Park London Air Park, also known as Hanworth Air Park, was a grass airfield in the grounds of Hanworth Park House, operational 1917–1919 and 1929–1947. It was on the southeastern edge of Feltham, now part of the London Borough of Hounslow. In ...

, having been modified as the Mark 2 version. It was tested at Farnborough, and leased to the

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), before finally losing its identity in me ...

for research, but it was scrapped during the second world war. A two-seat A.R.IV and three-seat A.R.V were planned, but construction was stopped when Hafner was interned under

Defence Regulation 18B Defence Regulation 18B, often referred to as simply 18B, was one of the Defence Regulations used by the British Government during and before the Second World War. The complete name for the rule was Regulation 18B of the Defence (General) Regula ...

Variants

;A.R.III :Prototype single-seat autogyro powered by a Pobjoy Niagara radial piston engine. ;A.R.IV :Experimental rotorcraft to meet

Air Ministry Specification This is a partial list of the British Air Ministry (AM) specifications for aircraft. A specification stemmed from an Operational Requirement, abbreviated "OR", describing what the aircraft would be used for. This in turn led to the specification ...

S.22/38. Powered by a 210hp

de Havilland Gipsy Six II The de Havilland Gipsy Six is a British six-cylinder, air-cooled, inverted inline piston engine developed by the de Havilland Engine Company for aircraft use in the 1930s. It was based on the cylinders of the four-cylinder Gipsy Major a ...

engine, construction was started by

Short Brothers Short Brothers plc, usually referred to as Shorts or Short, is an aerospace company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Shorts was founded in 1908 in London, and was the first company in the world to make production aeroplanes. It was particu ...

as the ''Fleet Spotter'', but was stopped in May 1940 when Hafner was interned. ;A.R.V :Experimental rotorcraft to meet

S.22/38. Powered by a 210hp

engine, construction was started by

as the ''Night Shadower'', but was stopped in May 1940 when Hafner was interned.

Specifications

References

Notes

Bibliography