Bensen B-8M Gyrocopter, exhibited at Hubschraubermuseum Bückeburg (Bückeburg Helicopter Museum), June 2023.
In 1952, Igor Bensen, a Russian emigrant to the United States, founded an aviation company named Bensen Aviation Corporation. Located at Raleigh-Durham airport in North Carolina, the Bensen´s enterprise was focused on developing and sales of helicopters and autogyros of his own design.
Igor Vasilievich Bensen (Игорь Васильевич Бенсен), was born in 1917, in Rostov-on-Don. In the same year, marked by two Russian revolutions, his family left the country and moved to Prague.
In 1934, Bensen began to study engineering in Belgium. After receiving the bachelor’s degree, he received a scholarship to continue his studies in the United States, at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey.
After graduating from the Institute in 1940, Bensen decided to stay in the country and planned to work for the Sikorsky company but was refused due to his citizenship. Instead, the young engineer was employed by General Electric where he worked until the end of the decade.
In 1946, Bensen built his first aircraft, a rotor kite he designated B-1. In 1951, he moved to Kaman Aircraft. Shortly after, he decided to open his own company, as aforementioned, to continue with development of gyroplanes.
During the first year of activity, the Bensen´s company introduced into the market two rotor kites, known as B-5 and B-6. Another aircraft of that type, designated B-7, followed in 1955.
In the same year, Igor Bensen unveiled his first powered aircraft – a small, single-seat autogyro. Initially, it was just another unpowered rotor kite, an upgraded variant of the B-7 which was designated B-8. However, in December of 1955, the aircraft developed into a powered version, known as B-8M (motorised).
Although the B-8M Gyrocopter (also spelled Gyro-copter) was just a simple design, consisting only few basic elements such as rotor, tailfin, pilot´s seat, fixed undercarriage and McCulloch 4318 powerplant, the gyrocopter hit the market and became the most known Bensen´s aircraft.
The B-8M was manufactured at the factory but the Bensen´s company offered also plans for homebuilders. The initial design was later developed into about a dozen different variants, including a float-equipped hydro-copter, coaxial rotor gyroplane and twin-engine rotorcraft.
In 1967 and 1968, the B-8M piloted by Igor Bensen himself, set twelve world and US aviation records for autogyros, such as 82.5 kph speed over a 100-kilometre closed course, 84 miles in 1 hour 25 minutes of distance over a straight line and maximum altitude of 7,200 feet.
Over the next few years, Bensen continued with aircraft development. Although he designed a few experimental VTOL aeroplanes, helicopters and autogyros, none of his later development succeeded on the aviation market.
Finally, the Bensen´s aviation company went bankrupt and was closed in the late 1980s. However, the B-8M autogyros were still home-built by amateurs after that date, using the original plans.
Igor Bensen dedicated most of his life to promote the idea of a simple, widely available small rotorcraft. In 1962, he founded the Popular Rotorcraft Association, a non-profit organization for owners and homebuilders of rotorcraft.
In recognition of his contributions to gyroplane aviation, the annual Bensen Days are being organised in Wauchula, Florida. The event brings together enthusiasts of the gyro-aviation and is considered the biggest gathering of gyroplanes in the world.
Igor Bensen died from Parkinson disease in 2000, aged 82.
