Amelia and her autogiro
It’s hard to miss the advertisements touting the new movie “Amelia” about pioneer woman pilot, Amelia Earhart but in the summer of 1931 Oklahomans saw the real thing.
On June 14, 1931, the Oklahoma Publishing Company arranged to have Amelia Earhart, piloting her autogiro, appear in an aerial circus at the fairgrounds to benefit the Milk and Ice Fund for undernourished and poor children.
12,000 people, my daddy included, saw Amelia flythat day. It was one of the largest crowds to see her autogiro tour of the U.S.
The newspaper described the show:
Amelia Earhart seated in the cockpit of autogiro. - From The Oklahoman Archives
Miss Earhart’s appearance, an accidental piece of showmanship, came just as the moment the crowd was letting down from the opening round of thrills. Circling the field several times, one of America’s premiere aviatrices brought the strange craft down for a beautiful landing, stopping within a few yards of the point where the wheels struck the ground.
The entire program was broadcast over WKY, Oklahoman, Times and Farmer Stockman radio station and preceding the appearance of the “backyard flying machine,” a description of the ship was broadcast. Miss Earhart, after her landing spoke briefly to the enthusiastically cheering crowd.
After her take-off, she brought the machine almost to a standstill over the field and circled a dozen times before dropping down and taking off again. Her piloting was perfect and the landings and take-offs a splendid example of the possibilities of the autogiro with its revolving wing surface.
In an editorial published June 5, 1931, The Oklahoman described the autogiro:
The autogiro is fundamentally a heavier-than-air craft, deriving its lift from the rotary movement through the air of its supporting surfaces. It differs primarily from airplanes in that its supporting surface or blades are free to move at a speed independent of the machine as a whole, thereby introducing flying characteristics hitherto impossible of accomplishment. It can take off at a low speed after a very short run and immediately assume a sharp angle of climb, can fly at either high or low speeds, and can momentarily be brought to a standstill in the air. It is capable of vertical descent at a velocity slower than one descends in a parachute. The descent is perfectly stable because of its pendular stability without oscillation, and it is so balanced that it can also be made to glide “nose down” like an airplane by a forward motion of the control. As a result of these characteristics little skill is required to finally land with virtually no forward speed and with a shock so slight as to be easily absorbed by the landing gear.
“Flying windmill” seemed to describe it fairly well, as it looked like an airplane with a helicopter’s rotor on the top.
On December 19, 1930, Amelia Earhart become the first woman autogiro pilot and she set an altitude record of over 18,000 feet.
The Milk and Ice Fund profited $3,640.29 and that June Sunday Miss Amelia Earhart had left her mark on Oklahoma City.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment