Saunders-Roe Skeeter

The helicopter Cierva W.14 originated in the late 1940s at the Cierva Autogiro Company, in 1944, the G. & J.Weir Ltd.. took over. It was a small two-seat helicopter, which should be successful as one of the first in the UK.

Technology

The construction seems quite peculiar to the cockpit roof was yet from a circular glazing. Behind the glass loomed the rotor shaft of the fuselage, on the three-bladed rotor was mounted. The two-bladed tail rotor was mounted at the extreme end of a slender tail boom. The suspension consisted of a wheel under the nose and two single wheels on both sides of the fuselage.

The first flight of the prototype took place on October 8, 1948, rather than as W.14 Skeeter powered by a Jameson FF- 1 engine with 78 kW (106 hp). A second prototype, equipped with a 106 kW ( 145 hp) Gipsy Major engine was launched a year later for a test flight and was named Skeeter 2 In this model, a larger rotor was used.

With the acquisition of Cierva by the Saunders -Roe Ltd.. 1951 received the machine, the new name Saunders -Roe Skeeter. At the production stage reached this type only through the advancement first at Saunders -Roe. The two prototypes were handed over by Saunders -Roe as a model for the new series to the British procurement office.