Italian aviator Jules Nardini in his Cyrnos wing-propelled Deperdussin over Dover in 1912.

One of the Cyrnos wings fitted to Robert Grandseigne’s Caudron in December 1910. The caption accompanying this picture in the March 4, 1911, issue of Flight states that “the design is due to M Filippi, and appears to be based on the assumption that the two blades may together be considered as analogous to one aeroplane”.

This contemporary postcard shows the CINA display enclosure at the 1912 Exposition Aeronautique in Paris, with the sleigh, on Nivert articulated skis, partly obscured by the wing at bottom right. The Cyrnoptere testbed is in the centre, with a collection of Cyrnos wings on stands scattered throughout CINA’s display.

A photograph of Filippi’s 1907 “Cyrnoptere”, probably never completed.

Another view of Filippi’s incomplete 1907 Cyrnoptere, a three-wheeled flying-car/roadable flying-machine with apparently little more than a bicycle saddle for accommodation.

This illustration from a 1906 Austrian patent awarded to Filippi appears to show a rather complex early version of his Cyrnoptere idea, with a detail appearing to show the lower bearing for one of the rotor shafts. Unfortunately no key is available!

A front view of the Charles Roux monoplane fitted with a Cyrnos wing. Antoine Filippi is not to be confused with Italian Navy officer Ludovico de Filippi, who obtained his pilot brevet in France in 1910, and who went on to become the first commander of the Italian Navy’s Servizio Aviatorio.

Japanese aviator Baron Kiyotake Shigeno in the Wakadori-go, an aircraft of his own design built by Charles Roux, in flight at Issy-les-Moulineaux in May 1912, a month after its first flight. The aircraft’s 50-60 h.p. Anzani engine was fitted with a Cyrnos wing, although it is unlikely the latter was taken along with the aircraft when it was transported by ship to Japan later that month.

On September 5, 1912, Leon Bathiat reached a height of 1,000m (3,300ft) in a Sommer monoplane fitted with a Cyrnos rotating wing, as seen here. Two months later he was at it again, reaching 3,000m (10,000ft) in 42 min on November 16, although it is likely the Sommer was fitted with a more conventional propeller on that occasion.