[twocee]

Attached is a note on the Langley landing from the US Naval Institute Proceedings.

Lt. A.M. Pride comments on autogyro landing on USS Langley 23 September 1931
Autogyro XOP-1, BuNo A-8850

We did some work on an autogiro, too. It had been under development, and someone suggested that we ought to test it on board ship. So one day when the Langley was off Hampton Roads, I flew out to the ship and landed. We had to be careful because the deck was narrow, and there was also a problem when landing into a breeze. Unless we turned left immediately, the rotor would fly up and break a blade. So, as soon as the autogiro landed, I swung hard left and had to stop before going over the side.
In a helicopter, there is power to the rotor, which was not true in the autogiro. Sometimes when the main engine goes out in a helicopter, it will autogyro to the ground. The autogiro could make a vertical landing onto a carrier's deck, but it took off like a conventional plane. The autogiro never caught on because it became obvious that a helicopter would be more capable.