Cierva’s brain children have four blades which revolve above the pilot’s head. When these are going fast enough for a flight (a hundred or more times a minute) they constitute a round wing. So that instead of being lifted by a rectangular surface, as in most planes, the autogiro sails along on a large pie plate, so to speak. The small wing, with the upturned tips, underneath the rotor blades, does not help much in supporting the weight of the plane in the air. Its duty is more to provide certain stability and hold the ailerons. Of course, the principle of the rotating wing type airplane, which is the family name of the autogiro, is not quite so simple as this description may sound. But regarded in this way, these craft may seem less of freaks than they look.
Now let me tell you of my first flight. It took place near Philadelphia on a bright spring day. Jim Ray, chief test pilot and vice-president of one of the companies which builds autogiros, took me up for fifteen or twenty minutes around the field. He made a couple of landings and then brought his giro to a stop.
“Now,” said he, climbing out, “you take it up.”
“Aren’t you going to give me any dual instruction?” I asked blankly. “I’ve had only a few minutes ride in this craft, as a passenger, you know.”
“That’s all right,” he smiled reassuringly. “You’ll get along. Just remember everything I’ve told you.”
