October 2005 - American Bonanza Society

was finally sold to a crop-dusting outfit,left outside without tiedowns in aFlorida hunicane and was destroyed byhigh wind.I took delivery of my PCA-2(NCI8791) on May 14, 1931 , at PitcairnField north of Philadelphia. I flew it toair races at Omaha, ebraska, where Iwas paid for my exhibition flights, andthen flew it west to the Naval Air Stationin San Diego. California. It was the firsttranscontinental flight made by a rotarywingaircraft.The trip had a number of stopsandsometimes I made brief contractdemonstration flights. After more than40 hours flying, I flew it back toPitcairn Field for servicing-the firsteastbound trip of a rotary-wing aircraft-andall it needed was an oilchange. A truly remarkable aircraft!Later on, more contract demonstrationflying was done at air shows.During cross-country flights betweenappearances, I practiced aerobatics withit, having previously been a pro aerobaticpilot at air shows. During that flying,I looped it several times alongcross-country flights, just for practice.I offered to loop it at the 1931ational Air Races at Cleveland, ostensiblyto be billed as the "fLfSt attempts atloops." I thought it would be a goodattraction, but Cliff Henderson, the manwho operated the Races. turned down myoffer, after being warned by the factorythat such an attempt would probably befatal. I merely wanted the crowd to havethe impression that my loops were thefirst.The Pitcairn factory then had aCanadian pilot make one or two loops atthe factory's field, ostensibly the first.The next year, Henderson accepted myoffer to loop it two or three times perday during the nine-day 1932 Races. Inthe meantime, I joined a traveling airshow called the American Air Aces andperformed aerobatics at quite a numberof cities in the Midwest. But I saveddoing loops for the 1932 ational AirRaces.Henderson scheduled my flightstion, made the first rolls on top of loopswith a rotary-wing aircraft.To this day, I know of no civilianpilots who have done aerobatics withrotary-wing aircraft, which today areentirely helicopters that depend for controlon the rotor producing lift so thatswinging the lift vector of the rotor providesroll and pitCh control.When aerobatics are performed inthat type of aircraft, control can be lostwhen at the top of some maneuver therotor lift disappears, and so control alsoceases. An invened lift on the rotorcauses a reversal of control.The same effect occurred with thewingless autogiro that 1 flew to and fromthe roof of the Post Office building inPhiladelphia 10 times a day for a year.1939-40, so I did no aerobatics with it.During a sharp pushover, elevator controlcan be lost and can even reverse. So aer-0batics with a helicopter is a no-no.The severe economic depressionand then WWII put an end to the developmentof the super-safe autogiro, eventhough by that time Pitcairn had developeda small two-place autogiro thatcould fold its three rotor blades downover its tail and be driven home underits own power. It is now stored at the Airand Space Museum of the Smithsonianin Washington, DC.The helicopter forged ahead afterthe war to become a highly successfulaircraft, but has been a disappointmentfor private ownership due to its very highcosts of purchase and operation.Incidentally, landings are normally madewith full power in helicopters, but normallywithout power in autogiros, a greatadvantage.I owned and flew a Bell helicopterfor several years. A photo of it was shownin the March '05 ABS Magazine. Perhapssomeone will raise the capital for the furtherdevelopment of the autogiro. But I'llbe gone to the forever.John welcomes comments. Write him 01 201Kingwood Pork, PoughkeepSie. NY 12601 or jennys2jels@juno.com. To purchase John 's book. FlyingSfon'es, visit the A8S Company Store at WW'W.bonanza,orgABS October 2005along with another aircraft, a modernimitation of an early Cuniss pusher flyingmachine flown by a superb pilotfrom California named AI Wilson. Wedid aerobatics together in front of thegrandstand, passing each other veryclosely, thus showing the oldest andnewest types of aircraft.Everything went well for a week.Then, immediately after my nearly verticalfinal landing in the white circle infront of the grandstand, Wilson unexpectedlymade a dive to "buzz" myautogiro before he landed. I was SOlidlyon the ground, and was just grasping therotor brake handle to slow down therotor when I heard the noise of hisengine passing over my head, followedby a loud crash as the left landing gearof his airplane was struck by one of therotor blades of my autogiro.The impact broke the blade aboutfive feet inboard from its tip and cut offthe left landing wheel of his plane.Wilson's plane then crashed about 100feet ahead of me, while the autogirostood on its propeller and the rotor bladesall struck the ground, ruining them. Thevertical fin and rudder were bent and oneblade of the idling propeller wa bent.Wilson was instantly killed.Fonunately, some person in thegrandstand took 8 mm movies of theaccident that plainly showed what happened.I have a copy of that tape.Wilson's left wing hit the downdraft ofair caused by my steep descent to land,was pushed downward, causing his airplaneto dive into the ground. He obviouslywas not aware that my nearly verticaldescent caused a large downdraftof air that pushed down his left wing.Thus ended the life of a very skillfulpilot and friend. I was delayed 27 dayswhile repairing the two rotor blades andinstalling two new ones. I lost some airshow appearance fees, but was back inbusiness at various air shows.In 1933 the National Air Raceswere held at Mines Field (now LAX,Los Angeles International) and I wasgiven a contract to perform my loopsthere. I did so successfully and, in addiwww.bonanza.orgPage 9258