I could imagine the alloy used would be so thin that it could be easily shot through with a good calibre machine gun.

Whoops. Should've read the info regarding this gyro first. The covers are actually a light alloy but my idea still stands because I could imagine the alloy used would be so thin that it could be easily shot through with a good calibre machine gun.

You'd be suprised actually Ens. Jack. The Germans tested rotorcraft during the war to see how vunerable they would be to air attack and they found that both helicopters and autogyros were far too manouvreable for fighter planes to keep in their sights. The British, who used Avro Rota autogyros to calibrate their radars, found this to be true as well when their autogyros genuinely came under fire from German fighters. I could imagine the Russians would have found the same to be true of their autogyros. Furthermore, can you imagine trying to aim at the base of a moving autogyro's rotor??? It's moving quick and what you're aiming for is very small... Frankly you'd be better of aiming for the fuselage, a big target compared to the rotormast, and hopefully hitting the crew through the fabric covers. Much more effective.

wouldnt that be real simple to shoot down by aiming for the base of the rotor?

very good and macho!