gyrogreg
Senior Member
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2003
- Messages
- 1,000
- Location
- Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, USA
- Aircraft
- Magni M-16 Gyroplane
- Total Flight Time
- 3000 total, 2000 Gyro
In 1923, after four years of experimentation, Juan de la Cierva developed the articulated rotor, which resulted in the world's first successful flight of a stable rotary-wing aircraft, with his C4 Autogyro. I believe you’ll all agree this was a major milestone in aviation history and of course, the beginning of rotary wing flight.
Fast forward to 2018. Because of Cierva’s association with Francisco Franco, an ex-politician and dictator at the time, the current Spanish government intends to remove all the statues and the name of Cierva from streets, squares and public places in Spain. Cierva’s family descendants are trying to prevent this from happening and are asking for letters of support.
You may send letters to: [email protected]
__________________________________________________ ______
Hello all,
This is disturbing, and If we take the time to look at history you will see why. Stalin and the Soviet Union had a practice like this. So did the Chinese Communist government. North Korea is doing it right now. Orwell addressed it as a nightmare vision of the future in his novel 1984 with the slogan
“He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.”
It also brings to mind another old saying "There is a fine line between a person that becomes a hero, and a person that becomes a bum" The soviets literally airbrushed heroic figures out of historical photographs! The list of people included Cosmonauts, Explorers, Leaders and Generals. The totalitarian State was constantly re-deciding what was a good citizen and who was an enemy of the State. They were constantly redefining the parameters they used to decide it. This is a sickness and the more we show the symptoms, the more we need to be thinking about how we caught this illness and how we are going to recover from it.
Pete Marsh
Wasilla Alaska
__________________________________________________ _____________________________________
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing in support of Laura de la Cierva, great-grand-daughter of Juan de la
Cierva. I understand that due to some concerns regarding a friendship, the Spanish
authorities are considering removing him from parts of history, and I think this would
be a great shame.
Juan de la Cierva made very significant contributions to aerodynamics and safety, at
a time when flying was extremely unsafe. His work on creating aircraft that couldn’t
stall was ground-breaking and had a huge influence in all sorts of areas of aviation.
The autogyros he produced have gone on to represent one of the best forms of flying
there is, as shown by their popularity in Europe today.
As an enthusiastic gyro pilot myself, I am profoundly grateful to de la Cierva and the
innovative ideas he pioneered, and I would be very sorry to see him removed from
history for some well-meaning reasons of political correctness. Please don’t do this.
Yours sincerely,
Paul Hollingworth
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________
Dear Sirs,
Juan De La Cierva's pioneering innovations in rotorcraft technology have contributed to the global development of the Gyroplane and Helicopter types of aircraft and contributed greatly to the worldwide safety afforded by his invention. Juan De La Cierva’s work is ultimately the genesis of all rotorcraft including the great contributions that the helicopter has afforded mankind.
It is my belief that the achievements of La Cierva to greatly improve worldwide aviation safety and utility is worthy of his high place in history as an innovator and aviation pioneer way ahead of his time, with accomplishments that the Spanish people and Spain itself should be proud to promote.
Today, millions of Autogyro and Helicopter pilots and users worldwide owe much thanks to La Cierva for his gift of rotary flight and the services, safety and contributions these types of aircraft have provided for almost a century now. For this reason, I urge the Spanish authorities and people to continue to further promote the respect and admiration that such a great man and contributor to the progress of civilization itself should be afforded.
Greg W Gremminger
Fast forward to 2018. Because of Cierva’s association with Francisco Franco, an ex-politician and dictator at the time, the current Spanish government intends to remove all the statues and the name of Cierva from streets, squares and public places in Spain. Cierva’s family descendants are trying to prevent this from happening and are asking for letters of support.
You may send letters to: [email protected]
__________________________________________________ ______
Hello all,
This is disturbing, and If we take the time to look at history you will see why. Stalin and the Soviet Union had a practice like this. So did the Chinese Communist government. North Korea is doing it right now. Orwell addressed it as a nightmare vision of the future in his novel 1984 with the slogan
“He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.”
It also brings to mind another old saying "There is a fine line between a person that becomes a hero, and a person that becomes a bum" The soviets literally airbrushed heroic figures out of historical photographs! The list of people included Cosmonauts, Explorers, Leaders and Generals. The totalitarian State was constantly re-deciding what was a good citizen and who was an enemy of the State. They were constantly redefining the parameters they used to decide it. This is a sickness and the more we show the symptoms, the more we need to be thinking about how we caught this illness and how we are going to recover from it.
Pete Marsh
Wasilla Alaska
__________________________________________________ _____________________________________
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing in support of Laura de la Cierva, great-grand-daughter of Juan de la
Cierva. I understand that due to some concerns regarding a friendship, the Spanish
authorities are considering removing him from parts of history, and I think this would
be a great shame.
Juan de la Cierva made very significant contributions to aerodynamics and safety, at
a time when flying was extremely unsafe. His work on creating aircraft that couldn’t
stall was ground-breaking and had a huge influence in all sorts of areas of aviation.
The autogyros he produced have gone on to represent one of the best forms of flying
there is, as shown by their popularity in Europe today.
As an enthusiastic gyro pilot myself, I am profoundly grateful to de la Cierva and the
innovative ideas he pioneered, and I would be very sorry to see him removed from
history for some well-meaning reasons of political correctness. Please don’t do this.
Yours sincerely,
Paul Hollingworth
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________
Dear Sirs,
Juan De La Cierva's pioneering innovations in rotorcraft technology have contributed to the global development of the Gyroplane and Helicopter types of aircraft and contributed greatly to the worldwide safety afforded by his invention. Juan De La Cierva’s work is ultimately the genesis of all rotorcraft including the great contributions that the helicopter has afforded mankind.
It is my belief that the achievements of La Cierva to greatly improve worldwide aviation safety and utility is worthy of his high place in history as an innovator and aviation pioneer way ahead of his time, with accomplishments that the Spanish people and Spain itself should be proud to promote.
Today, millions of Autogyro and Helicopter pilots and users worldwide owe much thanks to La Cierva for his gift of rotary flight and the services, safety and contributions these types of aircraft have provided for almost a century now. For this reason, I urge the Spanish authorities and people to continue to further promote the respect and admiration that such a great man and contributor to the progress of civilization itself should be afforded.
Greg W Gremminger
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