In 1930 , he was employed as an instructor at the Hampshire Aero Club , and then briefly as instructor at the Scarborough Aero Club . He had flown a Cierva C. 19 autogiro , and in 1932 Reggie Brie invited him to join the Cierva Autogiro Company as an instructor and demonstration pilot . He became Chief Instructor at the Cierva Autogiro Flying School at London Air Park ( Hanworth Aerodrome ) , and instructed over 80 trainee autogiro pilots in Cierva C. 19 and Cierva C. 30 types . He took part in the development of direct control autogiros , and later , autogiros with " jump start " features . In 1936 , after Juan de la Cierva was killed in an airline accident , Marsh took over as Chief Test Pilot for the Cierva company . He also carried out test flying for G and J Weir Ltd. , that was providing financial backing for Cierva , and developing its own autogiros . Weir 's designer , C. G. Pullin , became chief designer and managing director of Cierva . In 1936 , Marsh was commissioned in the RAFVR
airline accident
1936 KLM Croydon accident
Alan Marsh