- Home ::
- design ::
- historical-helicopters ::
- Augusto Cicare Helicopter Design History
Augusto Cicare helicopter History And Timeline Page 1
Augusto Ulderico Cicaré was born on May 25th of 1937, in the town of Polvaredas, Saladillo, province of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
When he was 11 year old, studying 5th grade of the primary school, he built his first four-stroke engine and powered a clothes-washer with it. At the same time Augusto converted an automobile engine for the employment of packed gas as fuel instead of naphtha. Augusto was also devoted to the construction of all the tools for his workshop.
At the age of 12 years, Cicaré left the primary school and abandoned his studies forever, but not his capacity to invent. This took him, when he was 15 year-old, to design a 500 cm³ engine with the camshaft at the head and with a 4 speed gearbox. It was destined to a motorcycle he was about to build, but the circumstances took him to sell the engine to a friend. It was installed in a Harley Davidson motorcycle, and with the money of this engine Augusto started to work on the first parts of what was his life-dream and passion, the helicopter.
The young Augusto continued his mechanical education via the "On the Job Training" method. As a young boy, Mr. Cicare would assist the local long distance truck drivers in his village by helping maintain their equipment. The truckers would reward the young Augusto with all sorts of used parts they gathered for him during their road trips. The young Augusto also began to design and built the machine tools needed to create his innovations such as the motor cycle engine, automatic gear boxes and diesel engines.
At 17 years old, Cicare began to develop a fascination for aviation, perhaps by his trucker friends giving him an appetite via aviation magazines. It took the young Augusto only six years to go from simple fascination of flight to designing, building and piloting his first helicopter.
The first aircraft of this type developed and built in South America. Neither the tools nor the materials employed were for aeronautical uses. In these early days (late 1950s, early 60s), Mr. Cicare was not aware of gyroscopic procession (the need to apply the appropriate input 90 degrees in rotation before the desired reaction takes place in the rotor blade system).
Cicare learned this and many other aerodynamics principals via the trial and error method. However, once again, this lack of formal training by a talented and observant innovator caused the now 20-ish Agusto Cicare to devise new methods of accomplishing the same end result but using considerable less components as was being used by others.
This was Augusto's second helicopter design. For this enterprise Mr. Cicare worked with the support firstly of all his local neighbors at Polvaredas, and secondly then secondly with the support of the National Argentinean Air Force.
It sported what looks like a Lycoming or Continental type power plant with the typical multi-V belt reduction drive. The tail boom looks very similar to the Bell 47 "MASH" style helicopter and the Safari Kit helicopter.
The complexity of the swash control system looks interesting to say the least!
As a result of a contract with the Argentinean Air Force and private managers, Augusto designed and built the prototype of his third helicopter.
He adapted an automobile engine to be used in this helicopter. This allowed for a range of less expensive power options.
For economical reasons, the Air Force had to interrupt the contract and the Cicare CH-3 helicopter design was finished only with personal efforts.
Here you can see Augusto test flying his own work, check out the multiple exhaust pipes!
To reduce cost and reliance on foreign materials, this light personal helicopter was made using national materials, including the engine. This helicopter proved to have excellent maneuverability and improved stability flight parameters.
An effective design idea using a pivoting type through shaft swash control system for controlling direction and altitude.
This proof of concept design was to open the way for the CH-6 which then went on to become the CH-7 and CH-7 Kompress tandem two seater.
The Argentinean National Air Force signed another agreement to develop a helicopter primarily for agricultural tasks, this helicopter was equipped with a Lycoming aircraft engine with a power of 150 HP.
Thus evolved yet another original design by Augusto - the CICARE CH-5. There is video footage of this helicopter flying around an airfield during a demonstartion. It had impressive performance and looked much like the layout of a Robinson R22 two seat helicopter.
Parallel to the development of the CH-5 and with the objective of testing in flight some new systems and elements to be used in the CH-5 arose the single-seat mini-helicopter CH-6, with a 64 HP engine. Augusto patented the novel control system of this helicopter.
It was this alternative control system that revolutionised the kit built industry with it's unrivalled natural stability and reduced centrifugal forces creating a lightness to the cyclic feel not to mention minimising drag by encasing the controls within the main rotor shaft.
was later successfully presented to the public at the Oshkosh Air Show and was a huge crowd pleaser.
Powered "Helicopter Specific" Custom Web Search
Handheld Radios 
