05.02.2009, 07:15
--and there is another surviving Cierva C.30 on display in the Science Museum, London if I remember correctly. They were used for testing and calibrating the radar systems pre BoB.
The rotor on the Cierva could be connected to the engine for vertical takeoff. It was perhaps the first true helicopter?
From: http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/cierva_c-30.php
During 1933 the C.30 prototype, G-ACFI, was converted for jump-start trials with a modified rotor head, and in 1936 a perfected form of this was fitted to G-ACWF when it made the first genuine vertical take-off by an autogiro, by keeping the engine and rotor system engaged throughout the take-off sequence. This machine was, in effect, the prototype for the C.40, five of which were ordered for the R.A.F. as the Rota II to Specification 2/36. These were built by the British Aircraft Manufacturing Co., having side-by-side seats, wooden semi-monocoque fuselages and 175hp Salmson 9NG engines. Two of the original five Rota II's were diverted to civilian customers, replacements being built in 1938-39. The R.A.F. C.40's served with No.1448 Flight (later 529 Squadron). On the outbreak of World War 2 over a dozen civil C.30A's were impressed for military service; these and the surviving Rota I's were allocated singly to R.A.F. radar stations in the United Kingdom for calibration duties. The example illustrated is the former G-ACWP, rebuilt in 1962 by R.A.F. apprentices at Halton and now in possession of the Science Museum, London.
K.Munson "Helicopters And Other Rotorcraft Since 1907", 1968
![[Image: cierva_c-30-s.gif]](http://www.aviastar.org/foto/cierva_c-30-s.gif)
The rotor on the Cierva could be connected to the engine for vertical takeoff. It was perhaps the first true helicopter?
From: http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/cierva_c-30.php
During 1933 the C.30 prototype, G-ACFI, was converted for jump-start trials with a modified rotor head, and in 1936 a perfected form of this was fitted to G-ACWF when it made the first genuine vertical take-off by an autogiro, by keeping the engine and rotor system engaged throughout the take-off sequence. This machine was, in effect, the prototype for the C.40, five of which were ordered for the R.A.F. as the Rota II to Specification 2/36. These were built by the British Aircraft Manufacturing Co., having side-by-side seats, wooden semi-monocoque fuselages and 175hp Salmson 9NG engines. Two of the original five Rota II's were diverted to civilian customers, replacements being built in 1938-39. The R.A.F. C.40's served with No.1448 Flight (later 529 Squadron). On the outbreak of World War 2 over a dozen civil C.30A's were impressed for military service; these and the surviving Rota I's were allocated singly to R.A.F. radar stations in the United Kingdom for calibration duties. The example illustrated is the former G-ACWP, rebuilt in 1962 by R.A.F. apprentices at Halton and now in possession of the Science Museum, London.
K.Munson "Helicopters And Other Rotorcraft Since 1907", 1968