Taken from WO167/190 1 Division General Staff War Diary there is an entry in the diary during November dated 24th of November at 1000 hrs. A Rota Aircraft visited H.Q. 1 Div to-day. Several flights were made by officers of different units, to test its suitability for intercomn., purposes. Anyone know what type of aircraft it is and have any pictures?
It's the Avro Rota, a licence-built Cierva C40 autogyro: Avro Autogyro in France 1940 - Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum RAF Autogyros in France 1940 - RafCommands Forums
Drew There is a little bit about the relevant aircraft in the following forum: RAF Autogyros in France 1940 - RafCommands Forums Cierva Autogiros: the development of rotary-wing flight Peter W. Brooks "Two or three C.40s (L7589, probably L7590 and possibly T1419) went to France to join the British Expeditionary Force between October and December 1939. Two more were to have followed them after the army authorities asked for further trials. When British forces were driven out of France, one or two of the C.40's were flown back" They may be interested to hear of your reference. Andrew
I did get a bit excited and think HELICOPTER in 1940 France ! It appears it might be quite a find so I'll post the diary page.
Links to WWII Helicopters 1944-46 Japan Kayaba - Kayaba Ka-1 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Germany FA223 - Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Germany Flettner Kolibri - Flettner Fl 282 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia USA-UK Sikorsky - Sikorsky R-4 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Sikorsky H-5 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Here is an old link to a similar thread regarding WW2 Helicopters http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/war-air/15378-worlds-first-portable-helicopter.html Regards Tom
Cheers for the links-Looks like this is it: Shame there are no pictures of it (I can't find any) in France working with the BEF.
Anyone a member of RAF Commands that would care to post a link to this thread on the RAF Commands thread (Link above)? I emailed the forums Admin a week or so ago and they have obviously ignored the request to pass the info onto the forum members that are interested-He obviously doesn't work within the Customer Service Sector Cheers A
The threads on the Rota on all the forums come up with a Google search it does not need extra storage space to save a link that will become broken as other sites archive/delete the info. As for the crack: He obviously doesn't work within the Customer Service Sector I would draw your attention to your request which stated that you did not 'wish to join another forum' to post the link yourself. Pot - kettle - black Ross
How about posting the whole reason that I emailed you rather than an edit of it, to which I received no reply? Not wishing to sound rude or lazy but aircraft are not really my thing (BEF 1940 France is) and don't wish to join another forum-My missus would do her nut! Hopefully you'll be kind enough to share the info with your members. Anyway I humbly apologise for trying to help out some of your forum members-I'll not bother in future. Regards Andy
I found this in Pathe News, Paris 1934, looks similar to photo in post 11 to my eye, but what do I know. I'll leave the rest of you to it AUTOGYRO LANDS IN PARIS STREET - British Pathe Full title reads: "Autogyro Lands in Paris Street - Thrill For Air Exhibition crowds". Paris, France. British made Autogyro - 'predecessor' of helicopter, taking off at Paris street, people looking on. A building with a sign over door reading "Salon de l'Aviation". Pan down the building showing crowds at the front. Autogyro flying over the exhibition building - this demonstration is part of the Aviation Exhibition. Autogyro lands almost vertically in front of crowd - people cheer. Pilot starts talking into camera - French, natural sound. He is interviewed by reporters. N.B. Item found in Unidentified Gazettes reel. Dupe of item from 34/96. AUTOGYRO LANDS IN PARIS STREET - long version - British Pathe Full title reads: "AUTOGYRO LANDS IN PARIS STREET - Thrill for Air Exhibition crowds." Paris, France. British made Autogyro - 'predecessor' of helicopter, taking off at Paris street, people looking on. A building with a sign over door reading "Salon de l'Aviation". Pan down the building showing crowds at the front. Autogyro flying over the exhibition building - this demonstration is part of the Aviation Exhibition. Autogyro lands almost vertically in front of crowd - people cheer. Pilot starts talking into camera - French, natural sound. He is interviewed by reporters. Short version of this story exist - slightly better quality footage - see other record.
From Capt Sir Basil Bartlett's Very Very Funny May 1940 Journal. 'My First War' A farmer is reported to be ploughing his field in the shape of arrows pointing straight at an aerodrome and at some petrol-dumps. This has caused a considerable flutter. Sargette, of the B.C.R., has had the farmer who's a Belgian arrested. And he's asked us to climb all high buildings in the neighbourhood and see what we can see. We are all too lazy for that sort of adventure. So we're inteding for a helicopter. The helicopter, which is attached to Corps, is unpopular just now, as it ran out of petrol the other day and landed in a beet field. One of our Brigadiers, who was onboard, had to walk nine miles home. Also the French AA gunners have a habit of pooping off at it.
