Existing comment:
The Autogiro Pioneering the Rotor:
The Autogiro was the first successful rotary-wing aircraft. It pioneered a class of aircraft known as gyroplanes, which use unpowered rotors to provide most of their lift. Forward motion -- created by a propeller -- causes the blades to "autorotate," like a windmill in a breeze. A gyroplane can take off in a short distance, fly slowly, and make a near-vertical landing, but it cannot hover. Autogiros were popular air show attractions and banner-towing aircraft in the 1930s. They failed commercially because they were more expensive that comparable fixed-wing aircraft. Later advances in rotor design allowed small gyroplanes to reemerge in the 1950s as affordable kit-built sport aircraft. |