Benson B8M-KCA           

                                                                                               I owned this Benson Gyrocopter for about 2 years in the early 70's. It

                                                                                                was built by Wilson and Russell Malcik of Temple, Texas. They were

                                                                                                in the refrigeration business and had aviation hobbies. In the background

                                                                                                you can see the edge of a friend's Aeronica Chief. This picture was taken at

                                                                                                the Killeen Municipal Airport, on the southeast corner where the Ft. Hood

                                                                                                flying club was at the time. I bought 115/145 octane avgas from them for $.16

                                                                                                a gallon back then. Things have really changed.

                                                                                                You may notice that this gyrocopter had both the overhead and regular

                                                                                                 joystick on it. Wilson left the overhead ( backwards working) stick on to

                                                                                                 hang a rear view mirror from.   

                                                                                                 "Gramp's Divorce Device", as it was named, was capable of cruise at

                                                                                                  75 mph and burned about 1.5 gallons per hour. The fuel was a mixture

                                                                                                   of 115/145 avgas and chain saw oil. The engine was a 90 HP - 4 cylinder

                                                                                                   2 cycle McCullough that was used in target drones for artillery practice.

                                                                                                   There was no power or pre-rotator on the rotor system, so it had to be

                                                                                                   spun up by hand prior to taxiing.

                                                                                                   The flag at the nose (Texas of course) was your trim indicator...step on the

                                                                                                    back end of the flag for trim. It is sitting on the airspeed indicator,

                                                                                                    which was a plastic tube with a small foam ball in it that floated up and down

                                                                                                    in the tube with a scale to read out airspeed. The nose would rotate at 19 

                                                                                                    mph and by about 30 mph you had liftoff. As you can see, once the nose

                                                                                                    rotated there was no steering other than what the rudder provided. Also,

                                                                                                    the only brake is that little piece of plywood that rubbed on the top of the

                                                                                                    nose wheel when you pressed it with your heel. (Also not available when

                                                                                                    the nose was up.) Steering of the nose wheel was done with your feet

                                                                                                    pushing a bar connected to the nose wheel axle; push right to turn left , etc.

                                                                                                    Once the nose was off the ground, you would lift you feet above to the

                                                                                                    rudder pedals, making sure the wheel was left centered for landing.

                                                                                                   "How safe are gyrocopters?" is the most frequently asked question. The

                                                                                                   variables are enormous. I highly recommend that a person be dual rated

                                                                                                  and, if they do not have strong mechanical abilities, have someone with an

                                                                                                    A&P license help them with the building. I self taught the flying portion

                                                                                                    using the Benson flight manual and taking my time. I taxied without the

                                                                                                    blades turning first for a while, then with the blades turning, then short

                                                                                                    straight hops down a taxiway, then careful conservative patterns. This

                                                                                                    process was over about a 3 week period. At the time, Russell Malcik was

                                                                                                    a CFI and signed me off solo.