Westland CL.20

The Westland CL.20, also known as the Cierva-Lepere C.31, was a two-seat autogyro designed and built by Westland Aircraft between 1934 and 1938. It followed the unsuccessful Westland C.29, and its design by Georges Lepere with the Cierva Autogiro Company drew on the Cierva-Lepere C.L. 10B, with detailed design by Arthur Davenport and Teddy Petter at Westland. The prototype first flew on 5 February 1935 at Hanworth Aerodrome, flown by Juan de la Cierva. It had a three-bladed folding rotor, a welded steel tube fuselage under a fabric covered light alloy skin, and was powered first by a 70 hp Pobjoy radial engine and later by a more powerful Pobjoy Niagara III. Lateral control was oversensitive and the machine could not climb above about 300 feet, so although six further airframes were made the programme was abandoned and the prototype was scrapped in 1938.