"Keith Willshaw" wrote in message
...

"robert arndt" wrote in message
m...

power the Heliofly I.
May I remind you too that it was the Germans that had several
operational rotorcraft in WW2: the Fa-330 autogyro carried by
U-boats,
the Fl-282 which was used to great effect in the Aegean, Med, and
Baltic as enemy submarine spotters as well as by the German army
in
Berlin as artillery spotter, and the Fa-223 which supported
mountain
units, lifting 75mm guns up 2000 meters to their crews as well as
serving in the resupply and rescue roles. Germany had all kinds of
designs for even more advanced helos including gunships, crane
helos,
and troops carriers.


Juan de Cierva built his first rotrcraft in 1923 and Cierva
autogyros
were commercially available in the late 1920's. In September 1926
he flew a number of demonstrations in Germany, one of them at
Berlin Templehof.

The crucial breakthrough for rotorcraft was the Hafner ARIII
Gyroplane
developed by Austrian Raoul Hafner in Britain in 1935. This
introduced all the features of the modern helicopter, hinged rotors,
and swashplate along with cyclic and collective controls.

Tomy tricks. Lets quote that in complete context:
http://avia.russian.ee/vertigo/hafner_gyroplane-r.html

In 1935 Austrian-born Raoul Hafner flew the first combined
cyclic-and-collective control system on an autogiro with articulated
blades. Although this machine was NOT CAPABLE of HOVERING, it marks a
milestone in helicopter technnology.







Hafner decided not to stay in the Germany of the late 30's
and emigrated to the UK where worked for the allies instead.

Keith