The Reggie Brie Interview

Cierva test and demonstration pilot R. A. C. Brie discusses his aeronautical life. After service during the First World War, Brie worked for Shell during the week and at the weekends was paid for joy riding aircraft in the. A flying accident led to him to rotorcraft and he tells the story of how he started working for the Cierva Autogiro Company. A Cierva he helped with the development of the Cierva C.19 and C.30, taking part in the “Flying Circuses” of the 1930s and establishing the Cierva Flying School at Hanworth. It was during his time at Cierva that he became the first man to fly a rotorcraft off a cruiser and the first Briton to fly a rotorcraft on and off an aircraft carrier. Reggie Brie goes onto discuss his roles during the Second World War, including spells in the USA designed to raise interest in using autogiros in the hunt for submarine. Whilst in America Brie made time to discuss the role of rotorcraft with US companies including Sikorsky, before being call back to the UK to take charge of BEA’s Experimental Helicopter Unit. The interview was conducted by J. L. Nayler and Arnold Nayler in 1970. The podcast was edited by Mike Stanberry FRAeS and it was digitised thanks to a grant from the Royal Aeronautical Society Foundation.