Saunders Helicogyre

The Saunders Helicogyre was a 1920s experimental helicopter designed by Vittorio Isacco and built by S. E. Saunders Limited for the British Air Ministry. Isacco designed and built four different Helicogyre experimental helicopters between 1926 and 1935, and in 1928 Air Ministry Specification 2/28 was issued to S. E. Saunders for a prototype to the Helicogyre No. 3 design. It had a conventional 1920s tractor fuselage and main landing gear with an extended tailskid, a 100 horsepower Armstrong Siddeley Genet piston engine at the front, and behind the cockpit a braced post carrying a four-bladed rotor, each blade tipped with its own 32 horsepower Bristol Cherub piston engine. It was tested in the Balloon Shed, but ground tests were not completed and the programme was cancelled on 30 December 1931 without the Helicogyre ever having flown.