The Swiss auto-gyro fighter from the mid-1930s is barely remembered today, but the story is fascinating nonetheless.
The 1928 war over cheese import duties with the League of Nations did not go well for Switzerland.
Their humiliating defeat in what the press called "The Swiss Cheese War" caused a major re-think of national defense. One idea that took off was equipping the Swiss
Flugwaffe with auto-gyros. With some historical perspective, this doesn't seem so far-fetched. In the early 1930s. auto-gyros were seen often in newsreels and at a few lucky airfields.
Some were even audacious enough to imagine auto-gyros in armed combat.
It was with great excitement that the first Swiss auto-gyro fighter was delivered to the
Flugwaffe in the summer of 1933.
The incredibly sexy lines of this streamlined, spatted beauty aside, auto-gyros had amazing STOL properties. This made them appear perfectly suited for the
Flugwaffe as their ability to land at front-line alpine bases was highly prized.
The aircraft was based off of the Morane 225 which the French had provided grudgingly under League of Nations auspices to help re-form the Swiss
Flugwaffe. The
Eidgenoessische Konstruktionswerkstaette took the original Morane design to the next level by removing the wings, adding a rotor and improving the horizontal stabilizers. This was also one of the first fighter aircraft with an enclosed cockpit and it had the most intimidating, up-to-date spatted landing gear yet seen.
The new aircraft were at first, greeted with bewilderment by their crews as might be expected. Over time, this would, of course, change.
While the
Flugwaffe put the new auto-gyro fighter through its paces, the
Eidgenoessische Konstruktionswerkstaette continued to crank them out, delivering 203 by the end of 1935.
However, the radical new design was doomed by increasing crew bewilderment. Outside of using its low-speed capabilities for spotting comely alpine
Mädchen out for a hike, crews couldn't discover practical, air-defense uses for the new bird. While their STOL capabilities allowed them to land at forward, high-alpine bases, they were unable to take off from them.
The design was simply ahead of its time and was, unfortunately, quietly withdrawn from service. All airframes were scrapped by 1937. To this day, the Swiss auto-gyro fighter remains a sad, largely forgotten chapter in aviation history.
Bran da Basher
