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"The Shape of Things to Come"
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So we have been found out. After trying to keep a low profile these past few years to give us time to produce a quality, tested product, we are now fielding calls daily.  Two weeks to go and we'll be showing our latest improvements to the Geo® Metro auto engine conversion and our prototype single place tractor gyro at Sun 'n Fun this April.
  We've had phone calls coming in daily, since airing on the satellite TV station,with all kinds of inquiries about our designs and upcoming products, so we thought we would give those who have taken the time to check in with us a little background on Raven RotorCraft and our goals in this newsletter.
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Jeron�s 2-place version of the Wind Ryder

We are a small corporation based in Boulder, Colorado presently designing a single place ultralight gyroplane as well as a reduction drive unit for the Geo Metro®/Suzuki® auto engine to convert it for a wide range of homebuilt aircraft.  Our upcoming two-place tractor gyroplane will be built around this versatile power plant.
 Jeron P. Smith, president, head designer, and inspiration for the talented crew at Raven, is not new to the world of rotorcraft. Initially involved with the  start-up phase of the WindRyder® autogiro design back in the mid 80's, he apprenticed to and has remained good friends with both Jim McCutchen and Kurt Shaw of WindRyder Engineering.  He exhibited his first rotorcraft project ( a custom, one of a kind, two place version of the Wind Ryder®) at Oshkosh a few years back, and has sold that project to Ron Bailey of  Minnesota who is bringing it to completion.
Running his own successful design firm and raising the capital to proceed with his dream of using  his industrial design background to build and market a unique gyrocopter of his own design occupied much of his time until the mid 90�s, when the design phase of what is unfolding now began in earnest.
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Ron Herron of Little Wing Autogyros, Inc. and Jeron checking out new ideas at OshKosk 1996

The desire to build a low-cost utilitarian rotorcraft that would be capable of backcountry exploration with the performance necessary to operate out of the high altitude conditions we have here in Colorado has been the intended goal from day one here at Raven Rotorcraft.  Initial research into the type of craft and its optimal powerplant led us  to where we are now.
 Our first revelation was the recognition that to keep within our intended goals, particularly the one of low cost, we were going to have to design our own powerplant.
  Our second one, inspired by the pioneering work of Ron Herron of Little Wing® Autogyro's, who we met at Oshkosh in 95, was the suitability of the original tractor gyro design for a craft that could fulfill our design requirements.

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RAVEN REDRIVES INC, 1025 Rosewood Ave, Suite 100 Boulder Colorado 80304 [email protected]