Like the earlier aircraft, the C.19 had a conventional airframe, a two-seat fuselage carrying a small-span wing with ailerons (to relieve rotor loads in level forward flight), and a single radial engine in the nose.

For the first time, this made the autogyro independent of ground crew when starting, and private ownership was a practical proposition.

Landings were often made at high angles of attack, so the rudders of the C.19 Mk III were reshaped to slope sharply upwards to avoid damage; this variant also had a 5 ft (1.52 m) increase in rotor diameter.

[3] The aircraft-style controls of earlier autogyros depended on airflow past ailerons, rudders and elevators; during the slow forward speed phases of takeoff and landing, these were ineffective, and accidents resulted.

Using a long control arm that reached to the rear cockpit, the pilot could direct the aircraft by tilting the plane of rotation of the rotor.

Some thirty examples were built in England, with licences acquired by Focke-Wulf to produce it in Germany (as the C.20) and by Lioré et Olivier in France (as the C.21), although no actual French production took place.

Several machines were reregistered abroad: in Australia, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain (one for the Spanish Air Force) and Sweden.

During the early 1930s, the Royal Air Force operated two C.19 Mk IIIs for evaluation of the autogyro concept (serials K1696 and K1948).