by Andrew Glass
airship a lighter-than-air aircraft with a steering mechanism.
altitude height above sea level.
angle of attack the angle at which a wing meets the wind.
biplane a plane with two sets of wings, one above the other.
bumper a metal or rubber barrier at either end of a motor vehicle, meant to absorb impact in a collision.
elevators tilting surfaces on a plane’s tail that make the plane dive or climb.
fixed-wing aircraft aircraft with wings that do not move.
flying wing a plane with no tail, shaped like large wings.
fuselage the main body of a plane.
glider an unpowered fixed-wing aircraft.
Global Positioning System (GPS) a navigation system for locating a position accurately using radio signals from satellites.
landing gear an aircraft’s wheels.
lift an upward-acting force produced by wings, rotor blades, engine thrust, or a lighter-than-air gas.
lighter-than-air craft an aircraft kept aloft by a large gas bag lighter than the surrounding air.
monoplane a fixed-wing aircraft with one wing across the top or one wing on each side.
navigation steering a course.
pitch movement of an aircraft that tilts the nose up or down.
radar a system for locating aircraft by sending out bursts of radio signals and detecting reflections that bounce back.
retractable wheels wheels that fold up inside the aircraft.
roll the banking movement of an aircraft in which one wing rises and the other falls.
rotor a set of rotating blades.
rudder a control surface in an aircraft’s tail fin that swivels left or right to turn the plane in a particular direction.
seaplane a plane with floats that allow it to land on water, sometimes called a float plane.
spin an aggravated stall resulting in a corkscrew downward path.
stall a loss of lift that occurs when an aircraft is flown at an angle of attack greater than the angle for maximum lift. If recovery from a stall is not achieved quickly by reducing the angle of attack, a secondary stall and a spin may result.
Source Notes
CHAPTER 2
Gustave Whitehead’s Condor
6 “more or less successful”: www.gustave-whitehead.com.
8 “That was . . . like it”: www.gustave-whitehead.com.
CHAPTER 3
Trajan Vuia’s Aéroplane-Automobile
11–12 “The problem . . . dream”: Trajan Vuia at www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/vuia.html.
12 “The flying . . . 10 million years”: “Flying Machines Which Do Not Fly” (New York Times, October 9, 1903), quoted in Moolman, Road to Kitty Hawk, 149.
“I have . . . two wings”: Trajan Vuia at www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/vuia.html.
14 “Vuia Airplane . . . Flight”: Trajan Vuia at www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/vuia.html.
16 “1906 . . . France”: Stiles, Roadable Aircraft, n.p.
CHAPTER 4
Glenn Curtiss’s Autoplane
20 “Now if . . . have something!”: C. E. Glass, “The Personal Aircraft—Status and Issues,” NASA Technical Memorandum 109174 (1994), 9.
CHAPTER 5
Felix Longobardi’s Combination Vehicle
26 “There are . . . build them”: Alice Fuchs, “Report on the Aerocar,” Flying (September 1957), 57.
CHAPTER 6
Henry Ford’s Flying Flivver
30 “Small enough . . . office”: Bob Blake, “Time Was,” www.aaca.org/publications/rummagebox/2005/spring/spring05c.htm.
“Mark my words . . . will come”: Bob Sillery, “A Plane-Car for the Man of Average Means,” Popular Science (March, 2000), 74.
CHAPTER 7
Waldo Waterman’s Arrowbile
31 “Now if . . . have something!”: C. E. Glass, “The Personal Aircraft—Status and Issues,” NASA Technical Memorandum 109174 (1994). 9.
32 “a flying tool shed”: James R. Chiles, “Flying Cars Were a Dream That Never Got Off the Ground,” Smithsonian (February 1, 1989), 146.
CHAPTER 8
Harold Pitcairn’s Autogyro
37 “Inventor Cierva . . . aviation”: Leon Clemmer, Horsham Township (Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia, 2004), n.p.
40 “Your next . . . Autogiro”: Bruce H. Charnov, “Amelia Earhart, John M. Miller and the first Transcontinental Autogiro flight in 1931” (unpublished paper delivered at Hofstra University, February 2003). www.aviation-history.com.
CHAPTER 9
Joseph Gwinn’s Aircar
46 “With only . . . stall”: “Frank Hawks and the Gwinn Aircar,” www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/Gwinn_Aircar-Hawks.htm, 2002.
CHAPTER 10
Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion Omnidirectional Human Transport
48 “Why . . . not!” Doug Yurchey, “Buckminster Fuller—the World Is Round?” www.hiddenmysteries.org/index.html.
49 “Zoomobile”: Michael John Gorman, “Dymaxion Timeline, 1927,” hotgates.stanford.edu/Bucky/dymaxion/timeline.htm, 2002.
50 “Freak Auto”: Patrick Cooke, “Sappy Motoring,” Forbes FYI (Spring 2001), 73.
CHAPTER 11
William Bushnell Stout’s Skycar
52 “Simplicate and . . . lightness”: J. A. Greenberg, “William B. Stout and His Wonderful Skycar,” Mechanix Illustrated (November 1943), 45. Whether Stout invented this phrase or adopted it is not known, but engineers have been quoting it ever since.
CHAPTER 12
Theodore P. Hall’s ConvAirCar
56 “consider a landing strip . . . driveway”: James R. Chiles, “Flying Cars Were a Dream That Never Got Off the Ground,” Smithsonian (February 1, 1989), 150.
59 “complete . . . controls”: Stiles, patent # 2,562,491, n.p.
62 “The market . . . investment”: William Gurstelle, Adventures from the Technological Underground: Catapults, Pulsejets, Rail Guns, Flamethrowers, Tesla Coils, Air Cannons, and the Garage Warriors Who Love Them (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2006), 16.
CHAPTER 13
Robert Fulton’s Airphibian
64 “a pretty lady . . . hair”: Fulton, One Man Caravan, 5.
65 “a desert . . . liver”: Fulton, One Man Caravan, 79.
66 “a motorcycle . . . tiger”: Fulton, One Man Caravan, 207.
“I’d end up . . . road?”: quoted in Andrea Zimmerman, “Invention in All Its Beguiling Varieties,” New York Times (March 8, 1998), archived, www.nytimes.com/1998/03/08/nyregion/invention-in-all-its-beguiling-varieties.html.
69 “We had to . . . vehicle”: Shultz, A Drive in the Clouds, 99.
70 “This was . . . very nicely” and “At the time . . . they are”: quoted in Andrea Zimmerman, “Invention in All Its Beguiling Varieties,” New York Times, (March 8, 1998), archived, www.nytimes.com/1998/invention-in-all-its-beguiling-varieties.
CHAPTER 14
Daniel Zuck’s Plane-Mobile
71 “Two-control flying”: Zuck, An Airplane in Every Garage, 97.
72 “floating wings”: Zuck, An Airplane in Every Garage, 99.
73 “Plane You’d Most Like to Own”: Popular Science Monthly (September 1944), quoted in Zuck, An Airplane in Every Garage, 163.
“The modern . . . yonder”: Zuck, An Airplane in Every Garage, 45.
74 “Auto building . . . work”: Zuck, An Airplane in Every Garage, 123.
“[traffic]. . . air”: Zuck, An Airplane in Every Garage, 123.
75 “Families . . . minimized”: Zuck, An Airplane in Every Garage, 125.
“People will . . . follow”: Zuck, An Airplane in Every Garage, 125.
CHAPTER 15
Moulton B. Taylor’s Aerocar
77 “I just decided . . . admit it”: quoted in Shultz, A Drive in the Clouds, 2.
“I thought . . . better”: quoted in John Grossman, “What Has Four Wheels and Flies? The Dream of the Roadable Airplane,” Air & Space (January 1996), n.p.
77–78 “If
the whole . . . solution”: quoted in Powell, “Winging It,” n.p.
78 “the changeover . . . high heels”: quoted in Shultz, A Drive in the Clouds, 23.
“There was . . . and do”: quoted in Shultz, A Drive in the Clouds, 39.
79 “You can . . . again”: quoted in Shultz, A Drive in the Clouds, 49.
“We don’t need . . . Joe’s place”: quoted in Shultz, A Drive in the Clouds, 25.
83 “one of the . . . overjoyed”: Powell, “Winging It,” n.p.
“much like . . . the crowd”: Jess Minnick, “Flying Cars Are Here!” Motor Trend (December 1951), 15.
84 “You can walk . . . speed of 65”: Alice Fuchs, “Report on the Aerocar,” Flying (September 1957), 39.
“I flew . . . automobile”: I’ve Got a Secret, October 18, 1959. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiFjhw_Iq9s.
85 “could really . . . lift”: quoted in Shultz, A Drive in the Clouds, 62.
“Knows . . . been there!”: quoted in Shultz, A Drive in the Clouds, 65.
“The public . . . automobile”: quoted in Shultz, A Drive in the Clouds, 14.
“As for me . . . keep trying”: quoted in Shultz, A Drive in the Clouds, 58.
86 “such niceties . . . soundproofing”: quoted in Shultz, A Drive in the Clouds, 72.
“Less time . . . airplane”: Robert Blodget, “The Taylor Aerocar (Remember the Taylor Aerocar?) Is Alive and Well in the Air and on the Road,” Flying (December 1969), 54.
“It is also . . . car is?”: Powell, “Winging It,” n.p.
86–87 “Flying automobiles . . . everyone”: Aeromagazine (November—December 1968), 54.
87 “The only . . . of the road”: quoted in Powell, “Winging It,” n.p.
“So don’t . . . crowded!”: quoted in Powell, “Winging It,” n.p.
88 “little if any . . . can’t fly”: Robert Blodget, “The Taylor Aerocar (Remember the Taylor Aerocar?) Is Alive and Well in the Air and on the Road,” Flying (December 1969), 54.
“If the DOT . . . an airplane!”: Powell, “Winging It,” n.p.
“People go . . . themselves”: Powell, “Winging It,” n.p.
CHAPTER 16
Into the Future
89 “It’s easy . . . go along”: John Grossman, “What Has Four Wheels and Flies? The Dream of a Roadable Airplane Continues,” Air and Space (January 1996), n.p.
94 “It should . . . well” and “We think . . . work”: Terry Box, “With an Eye to the Future, Friends Fashion Flying Car,” Dallas Morning News, April 7, 2007, archived, n.p.
Bibliography
When I began my research, I found only one book devoted to the subject of flying cars: Les Voitures Volantes: Souvenirs d’un Futur Rêvé, by Patrick J. Gyger (available now in English as Flying Cars: The Extraordinary History of Cars Designed for Tomorrow’s World), which features science-fiction predictions in classic illustrations. George W. Green’s Flying Cars, Amphibious Vehicles and Other Dual Mode Transports, which came to my attention later, yielded insights into late-twentieth-century prototypes and peculiar hybrids, such as the helicopter camper. I found two books devoted to specific flying cars. Jake Shultz’s A Drive in the Clouds: The Story of the Aerocar offers insight into and pictures of important predecessors and contemporaneous prototypes. To support his own design, Daniel R. Zuck wrote An Airplane in Every Garage, providing a fascinating geopolitical rationale for the roadable airplane. Bill Yenne’s The World’s Worst Aircraft offers an informative, if critical, chapter titled “Flying Cars and ‘Roadable Airplanes.’”
Much of my research was done by following online images to articles or fragments of articles, both positive and negative, concerning unusual air and automotive hybrids over the last century and into this one. The magazines Popular Mechanics and Popular Science and the PopSci online archives are vast compendiums of imaginative prototypes. Patrick Cooke’s Forbes FYI article “Sappy Motoring” included the Airphibian as well as the 1958 Ford nuclear-powered prototype, the Nucleon. A New Yorker article offered clarification of the term Dymaxion. The magazine Special Interest Autos ran a particularly interesting overview called “Cars That Fly: Swing High, Sweet Chariot.” Other articles identified as sources of quotations were also a resource for general information and photos.
Choosing particular prototypes to illustrate the progression and pitfalls of pursuing the dream of a flying car meant eliminating certain worthy attempts. I apologize, and I recommend the list of patents and patent drawings in Roadable Aircraft, From Wheels to Wings by Palmer Stiles, as well as the Roadable Times website, www.roadabletimes.com. In addition, the website www.fiddlersgreen.net is packed with information about the clever historical models they create.
I found wonderful period photographs and background information that helped me place the inventions in their historical and technological context in heavily illustrated histories, including The Road to Kitty Hawk by Valerie Moolman and The Century by Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster. Populuxe: The Look and Life of America in the ’50s and ’60s, from Tailflns and TV Dinners to Barbie Dolls and Fallout Shelters by Thomas Hine contains images of modern optimism in design. The World of Flight by Ian Graham helped me understand the basic vocabulary of small aircraft.
BOOKS AND ARTICLES
Brown, John. Flugautos aus aller Welt. Unpublished manuscript. Konigswinter, Germany: HEEL Verlag, 2012.
Bryson, Bill. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir. New York: Broadway Books, 2006.
Fulton, Robert Edison, Jr. One Man Caravan: Robert Edison Fulton’s Round-the-World Tour on a Douglas Motorcycle Between July 1932 and December 1933. North Conway, N.H.: Whitehorse Press, 1937.
Graham, Ian. The World of Flight. Boston: Kingfisher, 2006.
Green, George W. Flying Cars, Amphibious Vehicles and Other Dual Mode Transports: An Illustrated Worldwide History. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2010.
Gyger, Patrick J. Flying Cars: The Extraordinary History of Cars Designed for Tomorrow’s World. Newbery Park, Calif.: Haynes North America, 2011. Originally published as Les voitures volantes: souvenirs d’un futur rêvé. Lausanne, Switzerland: Editions Favre, 2005.
Hine, Thomas. Populuxe: The Look and Life of America in the ’50s and ’60s, from Tailfns and TV Dinners to Barbie Dolls and Fallout Shelters. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987.
Jennings, Peter, and Todd Brewster. The Century. New York: Doubleday, 1998.
Lomask, Milton. Great Lives: Invention and Technology. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1991.
Moolman, Valerie. The Road to Kitty Hawk. Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1980.
Powell, Dennis E. “Winging It—Down the Road, Through the Clouds the Aerocar Is Still Aloft.” The Seattle Times (Seattle, WA), July 15, 1990.
Schultz, Jake. A Drive in the Clouds: The Story of the Aerocar. New Brighton, Minn.: Flying Books International, 2006.
Stiles, Palmer. Roadable Aircraft, from Wheels to Wings: A Flying Auto and Roadable Aircraft Patent Search. Melbourne, Fla.: Custom Creativity, 1994.
Weisberger, Bernard A., general consultant. The Story of America. Pleasantville, N.Y.: Reader’s Digest Association, 1975.
Yenne, Bill. The World’s Worst Aircraft. Greenwich, Conn.: Dorset Press, 1990.
Zuck, Daniel R. An Airplane in Every Garage. New York: Vantage Press, 1958.
ARCHIVAL VIDEO
JEAN MARIE LEBRIS
en.wiki-videos.com/video/Jean-Marie+Le+Bris
GUSTAVE WHITEHEAD
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ucm80BYUXEE
TRAJAN VUIA
www.youtube.com/watch?v=umFY3GJxKiQ
LEYAT HELICA
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnyKNO958OY
GLENN CURTISS
www.criticalpast.com/2.webloc
www.youtube.com/watch?v=#2278C3
curtiss-jn.purzuit.com/v#22791C
Lillian Boyer performing aerial acrobatics on Curtiss JN-4 while in fight in Chattanooga, Tennessee, 1920.
FORD’S FLYING FLIVVER
www.
youtube.com/watch?v=#227AD3
Ford is shown inspecting his new flivver plane on his birthday, July 30, 1925.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2rAFY-IZas
Brooks landing in Washington, 1928.
WATERMAN’S WHATSIT
www.youtube.com/watch?v=#22708B
www.criticalpast.com/2.webloc
PITCAIRN’S AUTOGIRO
www.criticalpast.com/2.webloc
Autogiro jump-start.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=#22EC7B
Autogiro lands in Washington, D.C.
www.youtube.com/.webloc
Pitcairn Autogiro history.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=#22ED1C
Cierva’s Pitcairn PA36 autogyro jump takeoff, late 1930s.
This video contains rare historical footage of German Nazi helicopters in action.
GWINN’S AIRCAR
www.criticalpast.com/2.webloc
FULLER’S DYMAXION CAR
www.youtube.com/watch?v=#227367
Amelia Earhart is in the back seat.
STOUT’S SCARAB
www.youtube.com/watch?v=#227134
HALL’S FLYING AUTOMOBILE
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAX9oVWhywA
FULTON’S AIRPHIBIAN
www.criticalpast.com/2.webloc