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Cicare Helicopters
Augusto Ulderico Cicaré was born on May 25th of 1937, in the town of
Polvaredas, Saladillo, province of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
When he was 11 year old, studying 5º grade of the primary school,
he built his first four-stroke engine and powered a clothes-washer with it. At the same
time Augusto converted an automobile engine for the employment of packed gas as fuel
instead of naphtha. Augusto was also devoted to the construction of all the tools for
his workshop.
At the age of 12 years, Cicaré left the primary school and abandoned
his studies forever, but not his capacity to invent. This took him, when he was 15 year-old,
to design a 500 cm³ engine with the camshaft at the head and with a 4 speed gearbox. It was
destined to a motorcycle he was about to build, but the circumstances took him to sell the
engine to a friend. It was installed in a Harley Davidson motorcycle, and with the money of
this engine Augusto started to work on the first parts of what was his life-dream and passion,
the helicopter.
The young Augusto continued his
mechanical education via the "On the Job Training" method. As a young boy,
Mr. Cicare would assist the local long distance truck drivers in his village
by helping maintain their equipment. The truckers would reward the young Augusto
with all sorts of used parts they gathered for him during their road trips. The
young Augusto also began to design and built the machine tools needed to create
his innovations such as the motor cycle engine, automatic gear boxes and diesel engines.
At 17 years old, Cicare began to develop a fascination for aviation,
perhaps by his trucker friends giving him an appetite via aviation magazines.
It took the young Augusto only six years to go from simple fascination of flight to
designing, building and piloting his first helicopter.
1961 : CH-1
The first aircraft of this type developed and built in South America.
Neither the tools nor the materials employed were for aeronautical uses.
In these early days (late 1950s, early 60s), Mr. Cicare was not aware
of gyroscopic procession (the need to apply the appropriate input 9o degrees in
rotation before the desired reaction takes place in the rotor blade system).
Cicare learned this and many other aerodynamics principals via the trial
and error method. However, once again, this lack of formal training by a talented
and observant innovator caused the now 20ish Agusto Cicare to devise new methods
of accomplishing the same end result but using considerable less components as was
being used by others.
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1964 : CH-2
His second helicopter. For this enterprise Augusto counted with the
support, in the first place, of all his neighbors at Polvaredas, and in second place,
of the Argentinean Air Force.
1969 :
Cicare created an airplane flight simulator, the first one built in South America.
The Argentinean Ministry of Education and Culture named Augusto as Technical
Master. On the same year the English publication Jane’s published an extensive
article about all the realizations of this Argentinean helicopter manufacturer.
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1976 : CH-3
As a result of a contract with the Argentinean Air Force and private managers,
Augusto designed and built the prototype of his third helicopter, He adapted an
automobile engine to be used in this helicopter. For economical reasons, the Air
Force must interrupt the contract and the CH-3 was finished only with personal efforts.
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1982 : CH-4
It was made using national materials, including the engine. This
helicopter proved to have excellent maneuverability and stability conditions.
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1986: CH-5
The Argentinean Air Force signed an agreement to develop a helicopter
for agricultural tasks, equipped with a Lycoming engine with a power of 150 HP.
That way arose the CICARE CH-5
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1987: CH-6
Parallel to the development of the CH-5 and with the objective of
testing in flight some new systems and elements to be used in the CH-5
arose the single-seat mini-helicopter CH-6, with a 64 HP engine. Augusto patented
the novel control system of this helicopter.
1990:
The CH-6 is successfully presented at the Oshkosh Air Show.
Continue - Part II
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