Autogyro

Hello. I am a flying machine. My name is Autogyro. I have a propeller on my nose that pulls me through the air, zoom. On my head, I have big blades that spin round and round, just like a pinwheel in the wind. Whir, whir, whir. A kind man made me. His name was Juan de la Cierva. He loved to dream about flying in the big, blue sky. He thought and thought about how to make flying safer for everyone, and then he invented me. I was so excited to be born.

My friend Juan was sad one day. An airplane he made in 1919 fell from the sky. Boink. He wanted to make a flying machine that was very, very safe. He did not want anything else to fall. One day, he was outside and saw little seeds from a maple tree twirling down. They spun and spun and landed so gently on the ground. That gave him a wonderful idea. He gave me my big spinning blades. On January 9th, 1923, I flew for the very first time in a place called Spain. The wind pushed my blades and they spun all by themselves. It felt like dancing in the air. I was so happy and so safe.

I was a brand new way to fly. I showed everyone that spinning blades could make flying safer. Because of me, other smart people had big ideas. They made my cousins, the helicopters. Helicopters have spinning blades just like me, but they can go straight up and straight down. Whoosh. Today, my helicopter family helps people all over the world. They fly for fun and help rescue people. I am so proud that my whirly, twirly idea helped make the sky a friendly place for everyone to fly.