Autogyro - Appearances in Media

Appearances in Media

An indication of the pre-World War II popularity of the autogyro, its subsequent decline and later rise of interest can be inferred from its appearances in the films and comics of the day. Appearances include:

• In the film International House (1933), W. C. Fields's character flies around the globe in his autogyro The Spirit of Brooklyn.
• In the film It Happened One Night (1934), the bridegroom King Westley arrives dramatically for the wedding, piloting the Kellett K-3 Autogiro NC12691.
• An autogyro briefly appears in Alfred Hitchcock's movie The 39 Steps.
• Batman's first aircraft was an autogyro. The "Batgyro" was introduced in Detective Comics #31 in September 1939. It only made three appearances before being replaced by a more conventional fixed-wing aircraft.
• In the classic science fiction film of H.G. Wells' Things to Come (1936), the heroes of the story arrive dramatically at the Space Gun in an Art Deco-style autogyro (at 83m), to mitigate the destruction of the Space Gun by extremists, which will carry two people to the Moon in the year 2036. The autogyro in the film was designed by celebrated art deco designer Norman Bel Geddes, who assisted production designer William Cameron Menzies on the look of the world of tomorrow.
• Fictional characters Doc Savage, and The Shadow featured autogyros in their 1930s and 1940s pulp magazine adventures, as did Tom Strong in his pulp styled comic.

More recent appearances include:

• Little Nellie, the autogyro featured in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice, was a Ken Wallis WA-116 design and was piloted by Wallis in its film scenes. In the film it was shipped by Q in four suitcases and assembled before use.
• A Wallis WA-116T two seat autogyro is flown by character Ben Driscoll in an episode of the 1979 USA NBC-TV television science-fiction film The Martian Chronicles.
• In the 1974 Doctor Who story, Planet of the Spiders, the Doctor uses a Campbell Cricket autogyro (G-AXVK) as part of a chase sequence.
• In Hayao Miyazaki's 1979 anime film, The Castle of Cagliostro, Count Cagliostro utilizes an autogyro, notably against Lupin and company when they attempt to escape his castle residence with Clarisse in tow.
• An autogyro was heavily featured in the second Mad Max (The Road Warrior) film, released in 1981, appearing in several scenes with its pilot, the Gyro Captain, as a major character. The pilot used in the flying sequences was Gerry Goodwin, doubling for the actor, Bruce Spence.
• In 2002, Groen Brothers Aviation's Hawk 4 provided perimeter patrol for Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. The aircraft completed 67 missions and accumulated 75 hours of maintenance free flight time during its 90-day operational contract.
• The 2004 film Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events depicted a play put on by the acting troupe of the villain, Count Olaf, in which a prop autogyro was used for the Count's dramatic entrance.