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Vertipedia is a product of the Vertical Flight Society. With data on 862 aircraft, 613 historical milestones, 477 people, and 393 organizations, Vertipedia is your "one-stop shop" for all things vertical lift.
On December 9 in the history of vertical flight:
1936 - Juan de la Cierva dies
Featured aircraft
Our latest featured aircraft for December is the Cierva W.11 Air Horse .
The aircraft was designed to provide viable heavy load lifting capability for commercial operations. It employed 3 main rotors all rotating in the same direction. Torque offset was provided by thrust components from the 3 rotors through built-in shaft tilt. The aircraft had a semi-monoquoque structure, a single engine, and a long-stroke undercarriage (5ft) to cope with high rates of descent. A description of the aircraft and its characteristics can be found in the following references,
Source: "The Cierva W-11 Air Horse", J. Gordon Leishman, VERTIFLITE Spring 2003, Page 52
Source: "Discussing the Helicopter", FLIGHT Staff, FLIGHT, December 2nd 1948, Pages 665-668
Vertipedia Notes
Vertipedia notes are brief descriptions of how and why Vertipedia works the way it does. Check back often for the latest note, or view the complete list.
Compound terms
Compound terms in Vertipedia are only applied to helicopter and gyroplane VTOL types (with one exception). This follows the accepted practice within the industry. For gyroplanes, only the lift compound term is applied to gyroplanes with wings - thrust compounding is inherent in that class of rotorcraft. One other aircraft that is marked as having lift compounding is the Herrick HV-2 Convertaplane, which could effectively become an autogyro when the fixed wing was allowed to rotate in flight.
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Vertipedia makes it easy for you to find a range of information on vertical flight, including:
- Targeted searches of documents provided by the Vertical Flight Society, as well as public sources from across the internet
- Important milestones that have helped shape the history of vertical flight
- People who have played a role in vertical flight
- Vertical flight aircraft, such as helicopters, tilt rotors and tilt wings, jet-lift VTOL, and more.
