Reginald Brie - Pioneer of Autogyros and Helicopters
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Journal of Aeronautical History Paper 2020/01 Reginald Brie - Pioneer of Autogyros and Helicopters Text by R. A. C. Brie, compiled by: David Gibbings MBE, FRAeS Wg Cdr Reginald Alfred Charles Brie MBE, FRAeS, RAF Rtd 1895 – 1989 INTRODUCTION As the title states, ‘Reggie Brie’- as he was generally known - could clearly be described as a pioneer of rotorcraft, but it must be made clear that he was not a designer or a ‘hands on’ constructor. He was in fact a test pilot with sound engineering judgement and management capability. Reggie’s daughter Elisabeth moved to Yeovil and was an enthusiastic advocate for his work. In 2003 she was responsible for creating the Reggie Brie Memorial Trophy, the annual lecture competition held at the Yeovil Branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society. The Competition is open to graduate and student members of the Society, to prepare and present a technical paper. Papers arising from this event have proved to be of a very high quality and many have been accepted as winners of the main society’s N E Roe Lecture Competition. 1 Journal of Aeronautical History Paper 2020/01 Elisabeth has ensured that the trophy has the necessary financial backing for the foreseeable future, and the trophy represents a fitting memorial, in an area that Reggie would have approved. The passing of his daughter Elisabeth Brie in 2019 marked the end of a period of involvement and interest. Editorial comment In 1966 the Royal Aeronautical Society celebrated its centenary. As part of this process a special edition of the Society Journal was produced covering most aspects of aeronautics. Raoul Hafner, who by that time was Research Director at Westland, was given the task of producing the section concerning rotorcraft. It was duly published and Raoul decided to produce an in-house volume entitled ‘A History of British Rotorcraft’. The volume that came from this was offered by Westland as a limited edition and has been very eagerly sought after since it first appeared. Part of its attraction was that the book contained many statements by the people involved, in their own words. The task of producing the book fell to Reggie and included an account of his own activity; this has been used as the basis for this paper. The sections of this paper written by the man himself are all annotated ‘(by R Brie)’ REGGIE BRIE’S STORY: Born in Egham on 27th November 1895, he was one of the unfortunate generation swept along by the terrors of World War I. He joined the Army in 1914 when the war began and by 1915 was a gunner on the Somme with the Royal Field Artillery. He transferred to the RFC in late 1917 and was commissioned as an Observer with 104 Squadron flying DH 9s, some of which were built in the works at Yeovil by Westland (Figures 1 and 2). His aircraft was shot down during a raid on Mannheim in 1918 and he became a prisoner of war, not being repatriated until Christmas of that year. Figure 2 de Havilland 9 Figure 1 Reggie Brie in the Royal Flying Corps 2 Journal of Aeronautical History Paper 2020/01 He continued in the RAF with a short service commission until 1922 when he left to work for Shell Petroleum but remained on the RAF Reserve list. He gained his Commercial Pilots Licence in 1929 and later that year joined the Cierva Autogiro Company. Thus began his career in rotorcraft, involved in the pioneering work carried out by Cierva that resulted in an understanding of rotor technology, which was to lead to the helicopter. Reggie Brie was employed as general manager of the Hanworth facility, where he quickly converted to Autogiros* and assisted with test flying, although most of the flight test work was led by Cierva himself. The main emphasis of the work was concerned with rotor-starting techniques, direct drive and take-offs, with the C.19 models (see technical annex). To continue in Reggie’s own words: THE CIERVA AUTOGIRO COMPANY 1930 - 1940 (by R Brie) In November 1930 when I accepted an offer from Mr J. G. Weir to join the Cierva Autogiro Company, the flying staff consisted of Juan de la Cierva with Arthur Rawson as his assistant. The latter had become incapacitated with a broken ankle, and it was understood that the employment offered me was of a purely temporary nature and unlikely to exceed three months. In actual fact it developed into a continuous period of a little less than ten years. In those days the autogyro was apt to be treated rather contemptuously by the fixed-wing fraternity of which I was a professional member, but a near fatal crash whilst making an emergency landing with a de Havilland 9J earlier that year had caused me to reconsider my personal attitude. Having arranged to see a C.19 Autogiro being flown by V. H. Baker, Chief Instructor of the Airwork Flying Club at Heston, I was much impressed by its ability to land with little or no run, and a formal approach to the Cierva Company resulted in a passenger flight. This led to a short period of dual familiarisation and a solo flight. My rotary-wing pilotage experience on joining Cierva amounted to thirty minutes. Following the formation of the Cierva Autogiro Company in 1926, the Avro factory and airfield at Hamble, Hants, had provided an engineering and maintenance facility for Juan de la Cierva’s experimental and development activities. The London headquarters at Bush House was supervised by Col J. Joscelyn with R. Blake as Secretary, assisted by Miss L. M. Crowhurst, and in 1930 Heston provided a convenient temporary base for demonstration and passenger flights. Hitherto, the assembly of the many Autogiros which appeared from time to time had been of a somewhat hybrid nature. The concentration of effort was on perfecting the rotor system, and for any two consecutive models to have the same design of fuselage, powerplant or rotor system was exceptional. But the C.19 model represented a significant departure in that it was completely designed from scratch. Also it was the first of a series to incorporate the deflector tail method of starting the rotor system (see technical annex). This feature suppressed the need for prolonged taxying to accelerate the rotor prior to take-off, and thus appreciably reduced both time and * The generic term for a rotorcraft with an unpowered rotor is ‘autogyro’; ‘Autogiro’ is the proprietary name for a Cierva rotorcraft. 3 Journal of Aeronautical History Paper 2020/01 distance to become airborne. An initial batch of six was built by Avro, and by the end of 1930, refinements in detail design had led to distinctive Mk l, Mk II and Mk III model nomenclatures. Powered by a 105 hp. Armstrong Siddeley Genet air-cooled engine with a Fairey-Reed metal propeller, and seating pilot and passenger in tandem, the C.19 Mk III, of which upwards of twenty were built, was the last of the series to have a four-bladed rotor with flexible stranded steel cables for individual blade suspension when static, and inter-blade spacing in flight (Figure 3). Figure 3. Cierva C.19 Mk III Figure 4. Cierva C.19 Mk IV The next evolutionary stage was reached towards the end of 1931 with a C.19 Mk IV. Making use of the Mk III fuselage, undercarriage, stub wings with ailerons and powerplant, this model incorporated a three bladed cantilever rotor system, a mechanical starter and a conventional tail fin and rudder (Figure 4). Progress in the design and development of various types of autogyro is described in an article which I contributed to ‘Flight’ on 23rd of January 1953, entitled ‘The Rise of the Autogiro’, but for the purpose of this narrative it is necessary to refer to two specific developments, the C.30 ‘direct control’ and the C.40 ‘direct take-off’, respectively (see technical annex). A flight limitation of the C.19 series was a lack of adequate aileron control at slow translational speed. This was particularly noticeable on the final stages of approach to land when, unless the pilot was alert, a displacement in roll immediately prior to touchdown could result in a landing on one wheel and a wing, the consequential damage to rotor blade tips. This problem was resolved by Cierva’s conception of the tilting hub and rotor disc method of direct control embodied in the C.30 type. Providing positive and adequate response to pilot input throughout the speed range enabled the fixed wings and all conventional control surfaces to be suppressed. The C.30 two seater with a 140 hp Genet Major engine made its appearance in 1933. A licence to construct these was acquired by A. V. Roe and over one hundred were produced (Figure 5). Concurrently, research and experimental activity was being concentrated on the total elimination of the take-off run. Experimentally this had been achieved by 1935, but at the time of Cierva’s death in 1936 a major technical problem associated with ground resonance phenomena seriously curtailed progress (see technical annex). This was resolved by Dr J. A. J. Bennett and the 4 Journal of Aeronautical History Paper 2020/01 inherent potential of ‘direct take-off’ was achieved in 1938 with the C.40. By September 1939, five of these side-by-side two seaters with the 180 hp Salmson engine had been constructed by the British Aircraft Company at Hanworth. Two of these had been accepted by the Royal Navy (Figure 6). [The Editor has been unable to find a record of the C.40 in Royal Navy service, though seven entered RAF service.] Figure 5.