Raoul Hafner
Raoul Hafner, (1905–1980) FEng, FRAes, was an Austrian-born British helicopter pioneer and engineer. He made a distinctive contribution to the British aerospace industry, particularly in the development of helicopters. Life Born in 1905, he was educated in Vienna, first at the university and then at technical college where he became interested in rotary-wing concept as a means of making aircraft land more slowly and safely. He obtained a post with the Austrian Air Traffic Company, but his heart was in helicopter design. He gave up his job to concentrate on helicopters, designing and building the Hafner Nagler R.I Revoplane in 1929 in collaboration with Bruno Nagler, then the similar Hafner Nagler R.II Revoplane in 1931. Scottish cotton magnate Major Jack Coates, who had financed Hafner’s work in Vienna, had the R.II Revoplane shipped to Heston Aerodrome in 1933 where it made tethered flights. After learning of the work of the Spanish aviation pioneer Juan de la Cierva in England, Hafner contacted the Cierva Company and learned to fly its C.19 and C.30 autogyros. He parted company with Nagler, who had come from Austria with him, then concentrated on design of gyroplanes rather than helicopters. In 1934, his company, the AR.III