In 1959 former Avro Canada employees formed the Avian Aircraft Ltd. at Georgetown, Ontario, and Peter Rowland Payne designed a compound aircraft, the two-seat 2/180 Gyroplane. The prototype 2/180A CF-MTV-X flew early 1960 but was subsequently seriously damaged in an accident due to a non-design fault. A second prototype was built incorporating several changes and this 2/180B CF-NWS-X flew for the first time on February 16, 1961.
The rotor-blades were of metal with a wooden core and a glass fiber covering. The Gyroplane did not need, as gyroplanes normally do, forward motion before take off, but could take off vertically. The 2/180A had compressed air blown from air nozzles on the three rotor blade tips to power the rotor, whereas the 2/180B utilized a belt drive to power the rotor. After up-gearing the rotor for take off the power was gradually transferred to a four-blade ducted pusher propeller at the rear, the rotor was rotating freely during flight. The aircraft could fly at speeds down to 25 mph (40 kmh) before stalling.
The non-retractable landing gear had a steerable nose wheel and disc brakes; the rear gear-struts of the 2/180A were initially uncovered. Also the first Gyroplane had a propeller duct with more taper than on later machines. The first of three pre-production prototypes/demonstrators flew for the first time in January 1962.
The sixth 2/180 CF-JTX-X built was as the certification aircraft and was first flown in November 1965 and had new features like riveted light-alloy sheet construction, larger windows, larger entrance door, a lower floor line, and the IO-360 fuel injected version of the Lycoming engine. Finally the CofA was issued in 1967, however, the 2/180 never reached series-production.
initial prototype
second prototype and pre-production version
Specifications
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Two-seat light utility gyroplane
One 160 hp four-cylinder horizontally-opposed Lycoming O-360-A
33 ft 0 in (10.06 m) in diameter
16 ft 2 in (4.93 m) without rotor
33 ft 0 in (10.06 m) with rotor
8 ft 11 in (2.72 m)
1,200 lb (544 kg)
2,200 lb (998 kg)
52,500 lb (23,814 kg)
140 mph (225 km/h)
800 ft (244 m)/min
14,000 ft (4,267 m)
385 mls (619 km); 1,600 mls (2,575 km) with auxiliary tankage