Juan de la Cierva
1895 - 1936

Juan de la Cierva was a Spanish civil engineer and pilot who had a long association with Hamble. His most famous accomplishment was the invention in 1920 of the Autogiro, a type of aircraft that later came to be called an autogyro. After four years of experimentation, la Cierva developed the articulated rotor which resulted in the world's first successful flight of a stable rotary-wing aircraft in 1923 with his C4 prototype.

Juan de la Cierva set up the company Cierva Autogyro Ltd in 1926 to construct autogyros at the A V Roe factory, Hamble. Production at Hamble continued on various prototypes until 1932.

The C19 was built at Hamble and the Prince of Wales came down to inspect the machine.