Remember the autogyro in Annie?!!

[joker]

Was watching the television and that familiar song 'Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow' comes blaring out.

 

A touch of nostalgia as I remembered that film and the little red haired orphan.

 

THEN...I rembered that contraption that Daddy Warbucks flew around while he was looking for Annie. Remember this?!

 

Well, this isn't the one from the film. I couldn't find an image from the film. It's just like it though.

 

Well, at first, (knowing that the film was set in 1930s) I wondered if they had made a mistake with the timings. I didn't think 'copters' were around then. So I did some research......

 

Apparantly no mistake. The Pitcairn Autogyro was around then. In fact, Amelia Earhart broke an altitude record in one in 1931.

 

As I looked through webpages, I was reminded how much the development of the 'autogyro' (as they were called) was instrumental in the development of these machines we are all flying today. Everyone knows Igor Sikorsky, but how many know Juan de la Cierva or Paul Cornu?

 

So here's a link to a page which I found interesting.

 

The Contributions of the Autogyro -

 

Extracts from that linked website:

 

...In January 1923, Cierva successfully flew his C.4 autogyro, which incorporated hinged, or articulated, rotor blades....

 

...A crash in February 1927, led to an improvement in rotor hub design. A "drag hinge" was incorporated at the hub...

 

...With this system, the rotor was mounted so that it could be tilted, resulting in a force that would pull the gyro in that direction...

 

That website is an essay featured in the US governments Centenniary Of Flight website. Included there are some really good articles about the development of the helicopter.

 

History of Flight - US Government

 

Well, just thought I'd throw something different into the forum!

 

Joker