The first example, the C.8R (known to Avro as the Type 587) was a rebuild of the C.6D, fitted with stub wings and paddle-shaped main rotor blades.

This was completed as the Type 611, test flown by Bert Hinkler at Hamble and then delivered to the Royal Aircraft Establishment by Cierva himself in Britain's first cross-country rotorcraft flight on 30 September that year.

The two final C.8s were sold in 1928, one to the Italian government, and one to American Harold Pitcairn, who would go on to purchase manufacturing rights for the United States.

The C.8W bought by Pitcairn would make the first autogyro flight in the United States at Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, on 18 December 1928.

Data from Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1928,[4] Flight 5 July 1928 p. 543[1]General characteristics Performance Media related to Cierva C.8 at Wikimedia Commons