Juan de la Cierva

The Right Honorable The Count of De La Cierva
Juan de la Cierva at the Lasarte Airfield in 1930
Born	Juan de la Cierva y Codorníu (1895-09-21)September 21, 1895 Murcia, Spain
Died	December 9, 1936(1936-12-09) (aged 41) Croydon, United Kingdom
Cause of death	Aviation accident
Resting place	La Almudena Cemetery, Madrid, Spain
Nationality	Spanish
Alma mater	Escuela Especial de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos
Occupation	Civil engineer, aviator, inventor
Known for	Inventor of the autogyro
Awards	Daniel Guggenheim Medal (1932) Elliott Cresson Medal (1933)

Juan de la Cierva y Codorníu, 1st Count of De La Cierva (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxwan de la ˈθjerβa i koðorˈni.u]; 21 September 1895 in Murcia, Spain – 9 December 1936 in Croydon, United Kingdom) was a Spanish civil engineer, pilot and aeronautical engineer. His most famous accomplishment was the invention in 1920 of the Autogiro, a single-rotor type of aircraft that came to be called autogyro in the English language. In 1923, after four years of experimentation, De la Cierva developed the articulated rotor, which resulted in the world's first successful flight of a stable rotary-wing aircraft, with his C.4 prototype.

De la Cierva was born in Murcia, Spain to a wealthy family. After several successful experiments with aviation as a boy, he eventually earned a civil engineering degree. He moved to the United Kingdom in 1925 where, with the support of Scottish industrialist James G. Weir, he established the Cierva Autogiro Company.

At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, De la Cierva supported the National forces, helping the rebels to obtain the De Havilland DH-89 'Dragon Rapide' which flew General Franco from the Canary Islands to Spanish Morocco. His brother was killed by the Republican army in Paracuellos del Jarama.

De la Cierva started building the aircraft as early as 1912, and in 1919 he started to consider the use of a rotor to generate lift at low airspeed, and eliminate the risk of stall.