Intora Firebird

Intora Firebird

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08/15/2008. This design originated in the single-seat Rotor-Craft RH-1 Pinwheel developed by Gilbert W. Magill of Glendale, California, under US Navy contract and first flown in April 1954. Diminutive rotor-tip mounted hydrogen-peroxide rockets drove the two-blade rotor, and development continued into the seventies.

Magill formed another company, Aerospace General at Odessa, Texas, and developed a pilot rescue vehicle designated Mini-Copter, three prototypes were ordered by the USN under contract to the Naval Air Development Center at Warminster, Pennsylvania, and the first was flown on March 31, 1973. The program was terminated in 1977 and the three prototypes were transferred to the US Army for evaluation in the Individual Tactical Airborne Vehicle program.

Aerospace General went into bankruptcy and Afibra Handels of Switzerland, later renamed Liteco Helicopter Systems, acquired the assets. In 1987, Advanced Technologies of the USA built two new helicopters under the designation CH1 ATI on order to Liteco, those were registered as N9042F c/n 00001, and N8186E c/n 00002. The helicopters were shipped to Switzerland, being improved for some years till the program was ended in 1993 when Liteco folded.

Intora Firebird plc of the UK acquired the program in 1998 and N8186E was registered in the UK as G-BXZN on August 25 (N9042F is shown here wearing a fake/incomplete registration). Juan Manuel Lozano Gallegos of Cuernavaca, Mexico, designed and built a new rocket hydrogen-peroxide fuel engine, (weight 1 lb, 0.45 kg; size 1 in, 25.4 mm in diameter) and two were installed in pairs at each rotor tip, producing as much power as a 100 hp piston engine.

A dispute between the partners ended the Intora company, the G-BXZN was de-registered by the CAA on October 28, 2005, and the two aircraft are stored at South Weald, Essex.


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08/15/2008. This design originated in the single-seat Rotor-Craft RH-1 Pinwheel developed by Gilbert W. Magill of Glendale, California, under US Navy contract and first flown in April 1954. Diminutive rotor-tip mounted hydrogen-peroxide rockets drove the two-blade rotor, and development continued into the seventies. Magill formed another company, Aerospace General at Odessa, Texas, and developed a pilot rescue vehicle designated Mini-Copter, three prototypes were ordered by the USN under contract to the Naval Air Development Center at Warminster, Pennsylvania, and the first was flown on March 31, 1973. The program was terminated in 1977 and the three prototypes were transferred to the US Army for evaluation in the Individual Tactical Airborne Vehicle program. Aerospace General went into bankruptcy and Afibra Handels of Switzerland, later renamed Liteco Helicopter Systems, acquired the assets. In 1987, Advanced Technologies of the USA built two new helicopters under the designation CH1 ATI on order to Liteco, those were registered as N9042F c/n 00001, and N8186E c/n 00002. The helicopters were shipped to Switzerland, being improved for some years till the program was ended in 1993 when Liteco folded. Intora Firebird plc of the UK acquired the program in 1998 and N8186E was registered in the UK as G-BXZN on August 25 (N9042F is shown here wearing a fake/incomplete registration). Juan Manuel Lozano Gallegos of Cuernavaca, Mexico, designed and built a new rocket hydrogen-peroxide fuel engine, (weight 1 lb, 0.45 kg; size 1 in, 25.4 mm in diameter) and two were installed in pairs at each rotor tip, producing as much power as a 100 hp piston engine. A dispute between the partners ended the Intora company, the G-BXZN was de-registered by the CAA on October 28, 2005, and the two aircraft are stored at South Weald, Essex.