Fairey Rotodyne

by David Gibbings

Overview

Fairey’s Rotodyne (a British compound autogyro intended for commercial and military applications) was considered to be one of the iconic projects of the 1950 and 1960s and a bright future was planned for the aircraft. Widely believed to be a revolutionary design, it was cheap, fast, and capable of vertical take-off and landing in a small space. An aircraft ahead of its time, there has been little published on the Rotodyne. This book, by Rotodyne expert David Gibbings, seeks to fill a gap in aviation literature and offers a long-awaited full, illustrated, and in-depth history of the Rotodyne, many of whose features are still valued by organisztions such as NASA, highly in demand and used to this day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780752449166
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	06/01/2009
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.70(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

David Gibbings is a retired RAF navigator and flight test engineer for helicopters and aircraft. He worked on the rotodyne and with Westland, retiring as Chief Flight Test Engineer. Awarded the Kelly Johnson award for outstanding achievement in his field by the Society of Flight Test Engineers, he was the first recipient for the award outside the U.S. A qualified private pilot, David lives in Somerset where he now writes articles and gives lectures.