Autogyro... picture anyone??

[Paul Taylor]

While waiting on my SN to get down south... I always pull out an old copy and re-read them. I was thumbing thru one this morning and saw a picture of someone flying a autogyro.

Can some one post a closeup picture of one and tell a little about how it flys?
Will one do a loop?

Thanks
Paul

[dennis lipsett]

Paul, I can't post a picture because I don't have one . A fellow flyer in the club flies one regularly. It had hung in a friends house for about 50 years and was dusted off refurbished and has flown regularly ever since. Quite a neat thing to see. You dont have to spin up the rotor to launch and it is airborne very quickly. It's something that a Fox 35 was made to fly, not too demanding straight and level.
Flight is absolutely steady and somewhat fast with an unmistakable sound of the rotors. I'd never attempt to do a loop as you'll unload the rotor and without wings you know what the result would be. Another thing is be very close to the ground when that motor quits. A duck with a hernia has a better glide rtio then an autogyro. All in all an interesting thing to have in your inventory if nothing else to amuse the troops.
dennis

[Andrew Hathaway]

I've been around, and have seen a bunch of them... Interesting observations have included flying out a tank (several minutes) with no rotors, and coming in on the lines and wrapping several feet of .015's around the rotor post.  They're unusual, but fall under the catagory of novelty at best.  I've seen them used in Balloon bust because they tend to fly slow and stable. 

Jim Lee built an Otto the Gyro on steroids, powered by a throttled large case Fox... .45 maybe?  Rumor has that it has looped but I wouldn't recommend trying it. 

I'm still looking for a shot of a complete (undamaged) Otto, I think this one is Jim's older Otto after balloon bust at some unknown contest... Maybe Omaha? 

Edit:  Added a second picture, I'm sure this one is from Omaha.  There are two Otto's visible in this picture.  The red one to the left belonged to Kirby Chilton, that's probably him in the red shirt working on it, the other person is most likely Todd Lee.  The next Otto belonged to Brett Smith, again that's him working on it.  Jim Lee is probably just trying to get out of the frame, and then the far right is Dad fueling my Skystreakishthing...

Both pictures are from about 93 or 94, and may not have been at the same contest.

[Thomas Wilk]

Otto The Gyro   1974 MAN Jan p17   31.00 span    .29 engine  plan # FSP01743
designed by Mathis, Dick

Tom Wilk
www.cpinternet.com/~tawilk36

[Elwyn Aud]

Here's a couple of shots of Dave Ek's twin rotor monster. I don't think there's much balsa in it and I've heard the weight is several pounds.

[Bill Goebel]

Does anyone have a scanned copy of the Otto the Gyro construction article from MAN?  (1974 MAN Jan p17)     I have pdf and tif versions of the plans if anyone is interested.  I'd like to get a copy of the article to make sure I haven't left anything out...

Bill Goebel

[James Lee]

Bill
As Andrew noted I did do a slightly enlarged 'Otto' with a big case Fox 45 with throttle...    Its a hoot!!  They are horribly inefficient but a lot of fun... 
As to the looping...    I have documentation of the flight demonstration routine for the full scale Pitcairn autogyro which includes loops...   I have done loops with my big gyro..    It takes a lot of power and you MUST keep a positive turn rate all the way around.  But it will do it. 
 I've worn out several motors on my regular 'Otto' over the years..   Been flying it since 1975 
thanks
Jim

[Bill Goebel]

Jim,

I've built three to date.  1st back in high school (1974/5).  My brother flew it.  It did great until the engine kacked at high altitude and we did not have enough rotor to flare.  It rolled up and the tail shattered.  I built Ship 2 and 3 at the same time (1983).  Ship 2 was flown with great results.  Very stable ship.  You can fly several laps just inches of the ground.  Ship three is in my study and has been hanging there looking gorgeous for the last 25 years.  Blue and yellow Army Air Corp scheme and a McCoy 35 red Head stunt hanging on it with a Grish Bros. three blade prop.  I sort of hate to fly it so I was going to build a flyer with a throttle that isn't near as pretty but still lots of fun at the flying field. 

I also just scanned my original plans and have them available full size in .pdf and .tif format if you are interested.  I lost the MAN article though...  Send me your email in a pm if you want a copy of the scans.

Bill

[john e. holliday]

Hey Jim,  you didn't state how many rotors you have went thru on those things.  I had one built off the plans when Willard Adams loaned me the plans.  Put throttle on it.  Found out real fast that they do not taxi well in grass.  Later,  DOC Holliday

[minnesotamodeler]

Here's a couple of 1/2As:  Blackhawk's Merrit Autogyro (?) semi-scale I think; and a shrunken down Otto, I call it "Otto the Junior Gyro".  I've flown both.  Didn't try to loop either one, my intuition says it would be disastrous. 

[Russell Shaffer]

Paul, I have a PDF construction article (with plans) for a 1/2 A size gyro.  From the 1950's?  It calls for an 049 to 078 engine.  I'll try to email it to you if you want. 

[LARRY RICE]

The autogiro was never meant to fly inverted or loop however there are some R/C models that will. They use a helicopter head and rotor so that they can control the pitch of the blades.
          The Black Hawk Models "Kellett Autogiro" kit was designed by walt Musciano in 1954 for Scientific Models. It is a scale model in 1/2A size with laser cut rotors and carved fuselage. You can see it on our web site; WWW.BLACKHAWKMODELS.COM under CATALOG and MUSCIANO MODELS and while you are there you may want to check out the CUSTOMERS MODELS section.
Larry
Black Hawk Models

[minnesotamodeler]

Sorry, my memory's as good as it ever was, just not as long...Kellett Autogyro, not "Merrit Autogyro" is the white/red pic a couple of posts up.

It does fly. I think maybe it would on the wings alone, but it's sure fun to see that rotor whirling away.

The other (Junior Otto) has no wing, has to fly on the rotor alone...pretty well, actually.  Fairly standard ground run, climbs/dives with a respective speeding up/slowing down of the rotor, which does make a little noise.  Only thing it don't do too good is glide. Better than a brick, but not much...maybe 1/4 to 1/3 lap.  Still fun.

[Elwyn Aud]

From our recent contest.

[Russell Shaffer]

Elwyn, the rotor looks new?  The rest of it is obviously vintage. 

[minnesotamodeler]

"Vintage"...so that's what they call it. Turns out, I have a lot of "vintage" airplanes!

And to think all this time I've been calling them "beat-up old wrecks".

Anyhow, it shows it served its purpose--flying, not sitting on display on a shelf.