A Fairey Rotodyne taking on passengers.
The Fairey Rotodyne was a 1950s British compound gyroplane designed and built by Fairey Aviation for commercial and military applications. A development of the earlier Gyrodyne which had established a world helicopter speed record, the Rotodyne featured a tip-jet-powered rotor that burned a mixture of fuel and compressed air bled from two wing-mounted Napier Eland turboprops. The rotor was driven for vertical takeoffs, landings and hovering, as well as low-speed translational flight, and autorotated during cruise flight with all engine power applied to two propellers. The Rotodyne was used as a passenger aircraft by civilian operators and as a transport, heavy-lift aircraft and attack aircraft by military operators including the Royal Air Force and Irish Air Force.
