The Jet Gyrodyne was the subject of a Ministry of Supply (MoS) research contract to gather data for the follow-up design, the Rotodyne.

The Jet Gyrodyne was built specifically to develop the pressure-jet rotor drive system and operational procedures used on the later Rotodyne.

For takeoff, landing, and low-speed flight, the rotor was driven by air delivered by the superchargers and burnt with fuel in blade-tip mounted pressure-jets.

Development of inflight rotor drive restart procedure resulted in several power-off autorotational landings until the method was perfected.

The Jet Gyrodyne was retired once ground testing of the Rotodyne rotor drive system commenced.