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 64 hp Rotax 582 engine in pusher configuration.

The aircraft fuselage is made from bolted-together square aluminum tubing. Its 7.01 m diameter Rotor Flight Dynamics rotor has a chord of 18 cm. The aircraft has an empty weight of 145 kg and a gross weight of 295 kg, giving a useful load of 150 kg.

After taking over Montgomery's design, company owner Gary Layzell expressed an interest in further developing the Merlin, but initially produced it unchanged.

Operational history
By January 2013, 28 examples had been registered in the United Kingdom with the CAA as Montgomerie-Bensen B8MR.