Layzell Merlin
The Layzell Merlin is a British autogyro that was designed by Scottish designer Jim Montgomery and produced by Layzell Gyroplanes of Quedgeley, Gloucester. The aircraft was supplied as a kit for amateur construction.
The type remained in production by Layzell through 2011, although by July 2012 the company website had been removed from the internet.
Design and development
The Merlin features a single main rotor, a single-seat open cockpit with a fairing and a windshield, tricycle landing gear with wheel pants and a twin cylinder, air-cooled, two-stroke, single-ignition Rotax 582 engine in pusher configuration.The aircraft fuselage is made from bolted-together square aluminum tubing. Its diameter Rotor Flight Dynamics rotor has a chord of. The aircraft has an empty weight of and a gross weight of, giving a useful load of.
After taking over Montgomery's design, company owner Gary Layzell expressed an interest in further developing the Merlin, but initially produced it unchanged.