Also in my garage
A chat with James Bond’s stunt pilot led to an autogyro flight of fancy
Classic cars and motorcycles have been a huge part of Roger Kimbell’s life ever since he rebuilt a Velocette KTS 350 at the age of 13 and hammered it around the local fields. In his early 40s, after owning a 1936 Morgan three-wheeler, he built a more modern version from a kit: a Triking sports car, powered by the air-cooled 949cc V-twin engine from a Moto Guzzi Black Prince.
Soon after that he learned to fly, first a fixedwing plane, then a microlight and a helicopter. He even built his own American Kitfox aircraft. “After two and a half years building it, as I watched it take off with the test pilot wearing his parachute, there was almost a feeling of tears welling up,” he says. “God, it can fly!”
But it was a pub lunch with Wing Commander Ken Wallis, an autogyro pioneer who flew one of his own creations as Sean Connery’s stuntman in 1967’s You Only Live Twice, that ignited a passion for what Kimbell calls “a motorcycle in the sky”.
“He was a wonderful chap,” he recalls, “and I got so enthusiastic after meeting him and listening to his tales I thought: ‘I’ve got to do this.’ It was also another challenge, a new form of aviation for me, so I went to the importer with a group of mates and we were all given a trial lesson. I was totally hooked, completely entranced by what it was capable of doing.”
In 2013, after 35 hours of tutored flying, Kimbell bought a four-year-old Autogyro Mtosport, powered by a 1200cc Rotax 9 engine. The open-cockpit aircraft with two seats, one behind the other, has a legal maximum speed of 120mph, but cruises at about 90mph.
Autogyros were invented in the 1920s and used for surveillance in the Second World War. They were brought to public prominence by the intrepid Wallis, who set the autogyro world speed record while well into his 80s.
Unlike a helicopter, which uses an engine to power the rotors, an autogyro’s blades rotate automatically with forward motion. The motor drives a small propeller for thrust. “It wasn’t until the Germans and Italians got to grips with them and built safe machines that the Civil Aviation Authority deemed them safe to licence for general use,” says Kimbell, whose gyro is stored with his fixed-wing Robin DR400 and the Triking in a hangar near Kettering. “They’re magical things – basically an aerial motorcycle, very manoeuvrable and able to fly incredibly slowly, which is sometimes a great help.”
There are certain similarities between the Triking, which Kimbell describes as “the closest experience to flying without leaving the ground”, and the autogyro – perhaps the closest thing to driving a Triking in the sky. They share an open-air rawness, diminutive dimensions and the thrill provided by a hint of danger.
But while the Triking must stick to the roads provided, the gyro offers a more pure freedom, one blessed with spectacular views. “There’s nothing like sitting out there in an open cockpit in the fresh air,” says Kimbell, still flying high at 77. “It’s just glorious. The sides are just above hip level and it gives you wonderful, threedimensional views of what’s beneath you.
“I took my gardener up in it the other day, and now his uncle and father want a go. That’s the effect it has on people.”
Whether it’s in the gyro, the Triking or on one of more than a dozen motorcycles at his disposal, Kimbell is determined to keep the adrenalin flowing for as long as he can.