Layzell Cricket

Cricket
Campbell Cricket G-AXVM
General information
Manufacturer	Campbell Aircraft Cricket Gyroplanes Layzell Gyroplanes
Designer	Peter Lovegrove
Number built	43
History
First flight	November 1969

The Layzell Cricket is a single-seat autogyro produced in the United Kingdom. It was originally built by Campbell Aircraft as the Campbell Cricket, first flying in 1969.

In 1959, Campbell Aircraft acquired a licence to build Bensen Aircraft autogyros, and exclusive rights to sell Bensen designs in the UK. It flew its first aircraft in August 1960,^[1] and produced progressively improved versions of the Bensen autogyro from a factory in Hungerford, Berkshire, before moving to Membury airfield in 1967.^[2]

In 1969, the autogyro enthusiast Peter Lovegrove designed a new autogyro, the Campbell Cricket, to avoid problems with existing autogyros such as the Bensen. The Cricket was powered by a 75 hp (56 kW) modified 1600 cc Volkswagen air-cooled engine instead of the two-stroke engines used by the Bensens in order to improve reliability.^[3] It was a single-seat autogyro, with a steel tube fuselage structure, covered by a glassfibre nacelle. The pilot sat in an open cockpit. The autogyro had a two-bladed metal rotor, which could be fitted with an optional mechanical drive from the engine to pre-spin the rotor prior to take-off.^[4] The four-cylinder engine was mounted behind the pilot and drove a two-bladed fixed pitch pusher propeller.^[3][4] A fixed tricycle landing gear was fitted, while tail surfaces consisted of a single fin and rudder mounted on a tailboom.^[4]

In June 1969 parts of the new design were flight tested on a Bensen B-8. This was followed by the full prototype, aircraft registration G-AXNU, which made its first flight on 7 August 1969.^[3] Production started later that year, reaching a rate of two per week by 1970.^[3] Forty-seven Crickets were built by Campbell Aircraft by April 1972.^{[4][lower-alpha 1]}

In February 1984, R. J. Everett Engineering of Sproughton, Suffolk flew the first example of the Everett Autogyro,^[6] a derivative of the Cricket^[7] powered by a 1600 cc or 1830 cc Volkswagen engine.^[6] Everett started work on construction of an initial batch of 25 Everett Autogyros, of which 16 had been sold by 1987.^[6] In 1996, Lovegrove designed an updated version of the Cricket, the Cricket Mk 4, powered by a Rotax engine and meeting the current safety requirements of the Popular Flying Association. Plans for the Cricket Mk 4 were sold by British Gyroplanes of Wallingford.^[7] In 2000, Lovegrove built a single Cricket Mk 5, fitted with a horizontal stabilizer.^[7]

In 2003, the first prototype of the Layzell AV-18, registration G-CBWN, (also known as the Cricket Mk 6A), designed to be built from kits, was built, with a Permit to Fly being granted in March 2005. A second example was reported to be under construction in 2007.^[7] The type remained for sale in 2011, although by July 2012 the company website had been removed from the internet.^[8][9]

Data from Taylor and Bayerl^[8]

General characteristics

• Crew: one
• Length: 10 ft 6 in (3.20 m)
• Empty weight: 310 lb (141 kg)
• Gross weight: 650 lb (295 kg)
• Fuel capacity: 36 litres (7.9 imp gal; 9.5 US gal)
• Powerplant: 1 × Rotax 582 twin cylinder two stroke, liquid-cooled, aircraft engine, 64 hp (48 kW)
• Main rotor diameter: 22 ft 0 in (6.71 m)
• Main rotor area: 380 sq ft (35 m²)
• Propellers: 3-bladed composite

Performance

• Maximum speed: 63 mph (102 km/h, 55 kn)
• Cruise speed: 52 mph (83 km/h, 45 kn)
• Rate of climb: 650 ft/min (3.3 m/s)
• Disk loading: 1.71 lb/sq ft (8.3 kg/m²)

• Jackson, A.J. (1974). British Civil Aircraft since 1919 Volume 1. London: Putnam. ISBN 0-370-10006-9. 
• Jackson, Paul, ed (2008). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 2008–2009. Coulsdon, UK: Jane's Information Group. ISBN 978-0-7106-3275-3. 
• March, Peter R. (October 1970). "Campbell Cricket: Britain's best-selling gyroplane". Aircraft Illustrated 3 (10): 394–396. 
• Taylor, John W. R. (1965). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1965–66. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd.. 
• Taylor, John W. R., ed (1975). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1975–76. London: Jane's Yearbooks. ISBN 0-354-00521-9. 
• Taylor, John W. R., ed (1988). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1988–89. Coulsdon, UK: Jane's Defence Data. ISBN 0-7106-0867-5. 
• Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions. p. 225. 

• Layzell Gyroplanes website archives on Archive.org

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