Available now thanks to the efforts of Blkdog Publishing (super-efficient compared to the nightmare that was Silverwood). A light-hearted aviation flavoured autobiography, with a dash of foreign travel and a pinch of self discovery: the tale of an unremarkable nobody who became a gyroplane pilot and consequently discovered a wider world. That’ll be me.

Bored with daily routine in the 1980s, a spur of the moment decision to fly a light aircraft changed the whole course of my life. I had no intention of becoming a pilot (people like me don’t do things like that!) but flying grew mundane and the initial thrill wore thin. In an effort to recapture that lost spark of wonder, I sampled a small helicopter and so became infected with the rotary-winged bug. Circumstances sealed my fate when just a couple of months later, I saw Wing Commander Ken Wallis (the real James Bond) flying his famous gyroplane, Little Nellie. The addiction is incurable and I was quite beyond help.

But gyroplanes have a bad reputation, and people tried hard to dissuade me. With so few gyronauts scattered around the UK in pre-Internet 1990, it was like trying to join a secret society. The only machines available were all single-seat, and the only way to learn to fly was to own one. No one said this was going to be easy! The quest led me to Cornwall, where a small group of autorotational veterans took me under their collective wing. Thanks to them, Delta-J was born, and working from the ground up, they taught me how to stay alive.

20 years later, the rotary-winged obsession took this hesitant mouse across the English Channel, where I discovered the unimaginable feedom of the French ultralight world. Me and my tiny rotorcraft are now part of that world. It’s been a voyage of discovery and new horizons, with ups and downs in every sense – a journey I would not have imagined possible when I took that first aeroplane flight back in 1985. Gyroplanes have been my greatest adventure!

(All the photos relating to the story can be found right here, posted under the heading This Way Up pictorial.)

See http://www.blkdogpublishing.com/post/thiswayup for all purchasing options

This Way Up review at aviationbookreviews.com/this-is-the-tale-of-a-rotomouse (their typo)

Reviews of both books can be found on this Rotary Wing Forum thread…

https://www.rotaryforum.com/threads/report-on-spinning-on-the-wind-by-shirley-jennings.1148551/

Spinning on the Wind

Unfortunately I can no longer afford to keep the printed version of Spinning as publisher costs far outweigh any small return in sales, so only the Ebook is available on Amazon from now on. However, I still have some printed copies (£12 inc. p+p for UK, or £10 plus postage for overseas) so for those who prefer to read a real book, please drop me a message on the Contact page and I will get one out to you. If you like aviation stories that are a little different from the norm, this one is certainly an unusual tale with several unique twists.

Cherished memories of the old school gyronauts who taught me to fly, and the pioneers who taught them, back when every new gyroplane student was on their own with only a set of instructions to guide them. A chance find in my old friend’s cellar uncovered the remarkable legacy of Ernie Brooks, a forgotten pioneer whose tiny Brookland Gyroplane attracted attention from all around the world. Tracing his story unfolded the wonderful, yet heart-rending tale of his young nephew Trevor, who idolised the innovative aviator and never forgot the promise made to him by his beloved uncle. But tragedy intervened and that promise remained unfulfilled.

I didn’t know Ernie and was therefore unable to portray him in the book with the same warmth and familiarity as my Cornish veterans. It was Trevor’s input that made all the difference and helped me to capture Ernie’s spirit on paper. I couldn’t have done it without him. Back in 2011, we had no idea that it would all lead to a trail of bread crumbs, set in place down through the decades just waiting for the right moment. In following it through to its logical conclusion, we created a new chapter entirely of our own and wrote an ending far more gratifying than either of us could have imagined.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spinning-Wind-Gyronauts-Shirley-Jennings/dp/1781328331/

The final chapter can be found here, under the home page tab.