Cierva C.19

The Cierva C.19 was a British two-seat autogyro of the early 1930s, designed by the Spanish engineer Juan de la Cierva and built by Avro at Hamble as the Avro Type 620. It was the most successful and widely produced of the early Cierva designs, and unlike the earlier machines it owed nothing to an existing Avro aircraft. Its main advance was a way to start the rotor mechanically: first by deflecting the propeller wash upward through the rotor with the tail unit, and in the Mark IV directly from the engine through a clutch, which freed the autogyro from ground crew and made private ownership practical. About thirty were built in England, the production Mark IVPs first appearing on the British civil register, with two flown by the Royal Air Force for evaluation, and Focke-Wulf in Germany acquired a licence. An Avro-built Mark IVP survives in the Museo del Aire at Cuatro Vientos, Madrid.