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Autogyros

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coldplugs

coldplugs

Darth Vader
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Saw an autogyro on a trailer headed north this afternoon. I haven't seen one outside of a museum since about 1975. I was taking flying lessons in San Jose & we were using a nearby small airfield for landings & takeoffs (Livermore?) and a fellow was tearing around in one.

I looked them up on the net & was surprised to see they're not all that uncommon these days.
 
John - did it look anything like this?

keiths.jpg


Or was it more "elaborate"?

I've always thought they were very "advanced", especially as they can do very short takeoff and landing.
 
Well ... actually if the engine stops, the autogyro just slowly glides down to a soft landing.

(Just watch out that the rotors don't come off.)
 
Just trying to spark your interest, and ignite some discussion.

Fuel that I am.

:jester:
 
For many years there was a Bensen Gyrocopter suspended in one of the hangers at Aeroflex Airport in Andover (here in NJ). I haven't been back in that hanger for quite some time....it may still be there.

The original Bensens used a big 2-stroke motor. The Brit-registered gyro above (Nutmeg's post) looks like a Bensen (but obviously repowered with a VW motor).

Many "autogyros" were used as mail carriers and built in Trenton, NJ by the Pitcairn Company. The autogyro is pretty much the same thing as a gyrocopter.
 
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We were flying three Stearmans doing formation spraying and when we came back to the airport, there was much confusion going on by the runway. Here, while we were out, a fellow flew his Bensen gyro, something went wrong and the thing fell around 500 feet killing the pilot. Worse part was it happened in front of his wife and kids! A horrible scene to say the least. I never had any use for one those after that! :sorrow: PJ
 
At the College Park (Maryland) Aviation Museum, they have an example of a Berliner-Joyce autogyro from the 1920s. Neat stuff.

Berliner was an inventor and had produced a commercially successful phonograph player. Victor Talking Machine Company purchased the rights to the phonograph player, but they kept Berliners "trademark"...a black and white pit bull terrier named Nipper cocking his head at the phonograph with the subtitle "His Master's Voice". Victor and RCA merged in 1928, but Berliner's dog stayed with the company until its demise in the late 1980s
 
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