Microlighters

I'm busy reading Winds of Destruction, the autobiography of Rhodesian pilot Group Captain (Retd) Peter Petter-Bowyer who played a major role in the development of visual air reconnaissance as a highly effective way of tracking and locating hidden enemy camps during the Rhodesian War.

The following comment is interesting:

"For a long time I had been interested in building a tandem-seat aircraft designed for visual reconnaissance. I considered that an ideal recce aircraft had to be very quiet and almost impossible to see when flying at 5000 feet against a clear-sky background.
... Of greatest importance was the need for all round visual freedom of the ground...
I was sent to South Africa's CSIR to explore possibilities... I was shown a gyrocopter that had been built with the express intention of testing CSIR's developmental work in carbon fibre rotor blades. The gyrocopter had an ideal cabin with good visual freedom and if fitted with a paddle bladed propellor and muffled exhausts, it seemed to be the answer to my dreams."

Unfortunately the CSIR's gyrocopter was still in development and months away from completion and the Rhodesian Air Force were left to test the Patchen Explorer instead.

How the history and use of gyrocopters may have been reshaped had the CSIR gyro design been ready for bush war deployment in Rhodesia!

Wat se Wagtail?

Was it a Wagtail project with CSIR?

Most likely the SARA 3

Something that I always notice is that the early gyro's were enclosed. Wonder why the movement to open cockpits and now back to enclosed?

Tinkerbell wrote:Something that I always notice is that the early gyro's were enclosed. Wonder why the movement to open cockpits and now back to enclosed?

Maybe a weight problem? With the introduction of carbon fiber the weight could be better manage.

Maak sin, Thinus.