266 ANNUAL, REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 30 



fly it. Thinking it more a joke than anything else, the pilot ac- 

 cepted. There was practically nothing salvageable about the 

 machine excepting the motor and the wheels. With these as a basis, 

 the boys set energetically to work. 



The carpentry shop of one of their fathers was open to them and, 

 doing all the intricate work of fitting bits of wood and stretching 

 canvas, they turned out a machine which flew decidedly better than 

 the original. This machine was the first in Spain. 



Later on, in 1913, they started to build a racing plane. In this 

 they had at first the support of their people, who were encouraged 

 to help them because of their initial success. However, in striving 

 after speed, the boys gave their monoplane so little surface that it 

 could scarcely get off the ground. After several minor taxying 

 accidents in which undercarriages gave way, their parents' confi- 

 dence waned and the boys were compelled to give up the project. 



All this amateur experimentation had given Cierva the feel of the 

 air and the conviction that his future career lay in aeronautics. 

 Upon his return to school at that time, which was about at the be- 

 ginning of the World War, he elected to take an eight years' course 

 covering civil and mechanical engineering, since that was the nearest 

 approach to an aerodynamic engineering course available. At that 

 time there were no schools of aerodynamics in Spain. During his 

 school career he always stood well near the head of his class. 



I wish to emphasize that it was Cierva's thorough grounding in 

 engineering and mathematics which enabled him to work out in 

 theory alone the invention of the Autogiro. It was the result of 

 tireless effort and endless patience, and was achieved along logical, 

 constructive lines. The invention was not a haphazard one. 



Toward the close of the World War, the Spanish government an- 

 nounced a competition for the design of three types of military 

 planes. These were pursuit, reconnaisance, and bomber. In a sport- 

 ing spirit, Cierva entered the design competition for the bomber, and 

 produced a plane which in many respects was years ahead of its time. 

 Wlien he designed it, the warring countries still withheld all informa- 

 tion on design, so that the machine could truly be called his own. 

 It was a 3-motored tractor biplane, with a wing span of around 100 

 feet. At that time there were no other 3-engined machines excepting 

 the Caproni, and that was not of the modern tractor type. 



The machine proved entirely successful. Cierva's test pilot, dis- 

 tinctly scared by its great size, treated it with great gentleness at 

 first, but as he found it responsive and maneuverable, his fears dimin- 

 ished and overconfidence set in, with the result that he flew it in a 

 way that no big machine could be handled, and while flying near 

 the ground, stalled and crashed. He was only bruised, but the ma- 

 chine was demolished. 



