In around 1972, a very young Gerald Speich watched Wing Cmdr Ken Wallis shoot up cars from the James Bond gyroplane ‘Little Nellie’, at a Pembrokeshire county fair. A fascination with gyroplanes began.
In the mid-nineties, whilst working as an Engineering Manager in the Automotive world, he watched one of Ken’s remarkable lectures with the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. Inspired, he decided to experience gyroplane flight.
With no previous flight experience of any significance, his first flight was with Tony Unwin in 1996, and then flight training with Tony Melody and Roger Savage. This was in the days when training in single seats gyros was the norm, with the instructor using a radio for communications! He purchased a homebuilt single seat Campbell Cricket replica, trained on that, and obtained a full gyroplane PPL in March 1998.
He joined the British Rotorcraft Association, and held various positions; Safety Officer, Engineering Officer, and Chairman. Most meetings had the same topic; will we ever get factory built gyroplanes into the UK?
As part of the role with the BRA, he was also increasingly involved with the application and development of BCAR Section T, the most regulated and copied gyroplane standard in the world. There were many grounded Air Command gyroplanes in the UK, and he worked to find a solution to regain airworthiness for these, culminating in the ‘High Command’, the first gyroplane to achieve a UK Section T approval in 2003.
In 2005 the disarray in the automotive world gave Gerald a chance to take a new direction, and RotorSport UK Ltd was formed and operated from a wooden shed in the family garden. Initially the plan was to produce a UK Section T compliant version of the Air Command gyroplane, but insurance regulation changes meant a new path was needed.
In parallel Otmar Birkner of AutoGyro in Germany was starting to gather some success with manufacturing his two seat tandem MT-03 gyroplane, and the two decided to meet up in September of 2005. They worked together to upgrade the MT-03 to meet UK Section T requirements, and Gerald created the mountain of documentation needed to demonstrate compliance – as well as that required to obtain a UK CAA design and manufacturing company approval. RotorSport UK Ltd obtained this accreditation early in 2006, and the first MT’s left for their proud first owners (including Steve Boxall) in the Autumn of 2006.
The first ever UK approved factory built two seat gyroplanes.
Because RotorSport UK Ltd is the Approved manufacturing organisation, in the eyes of the CAA AutoGyro in Germany is actual a sub-supplier to RotorSport, and was – and is – audited regularly as such by the UK CAA.
The success of AutoGyro with the new Calidus and Cavalon models meant that in 2014 new investors came into German company, restructuring that company and purchasing RotorSport UK Ltd in 2015. Their primary interest was in the certification operations, so RotorSport Sales and Service Ltd was born out of this to remain to service the UK and Irish markets.
The business was by then based at Poplar Farm in Shropshire, a beautiful location but a little isolated. The business manager at the time moved the company to Halfpenny Green airfield near Wolverhampton, a super and well run site, but with considerable costs attached. Sadly he died a few months later, and the business did not flourish as expected despite huge efforts of those involved. The arrival of Covid meant that hard decisions had to be taken. The site was closed, staff minimised and company was repositioned back to Poplar Farm. Spare parts and new aircraft sales are managed from there today,
The company is still owned by Gerald Speich, and still with daily involvement. With orders increasing it intended that the business once again moves backout into a full airfield location.. watch this space!
Footnote: the term ’gyroplane’ is the international standard regulatory word used to describe our aircraft. ‘Gyrocopter’ is a trademark used by Dr. Igor Benson in the 1950s.
