History
Shortly after the first airplane was invented by the Wright brothers in 1903, people began thinking up ways to create a car that could fly just like the air plane. Many attempts were made to create such a vehicle but with very little success. The first unveild attempt at a flying car was in 1917 by Glenn Curtiss, he called it the Autoplane. The Autoplane had three wings that spanned 40 feet long and a four blade propeller in the back. Unfortunatly, the aircraft never actually took flight. It only managed a few hops off the ground.
The attempts at flying cars didn't stop there. There were many attempts after the Autoplane, but they all failed. Until, in 1946, Robert Fulton created the Airphibian. Fulton had the idea of instead of making a car that could fly, he made a plane for the road. The Airphibian took five minutes to convert from a plane to a car and could drive up to 120 mph. The Airphibian was the first flying car to be certified by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). Regardless of Fultons' success, he could not find a financial backer.
In 1970 Moulton Taylor produced the most well known flying car, the Aero Car. He designed it so that the car could drive, fly, and then drive again with no interuption. Taylor covered it in a fiberglass shell and had a 10 foot long drive shaft that connected the engine to a pusher propeller. The Aero Car was the second and last car to get FAA approval in the 1900s. Ford Motor Company even considered marketing the vehicle but the decade's oil crisis vanished those plans.
These inventors never managed to produce a workable flying car. Some even died in the process of testing these automobiles. They did, however, prove that flying cars were possible to create. This inspired a whole new group of roadable aircraft inventors.
The attempts at flying cars didn't stop there. There were many attempts after the Autoplane, but they all failed. Until, in 1946, Robert Fulton created the Airphibian. Fulton had the idea of instead of making a car that could fly, he made a plane for the road. The Airphibian took five minutes to convert from a plane to a car and could drive up to 120 mph. The Airphibian was the first flying car to be certified by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). Regardless of Fultons' success, he could not find a financial backer.
In 1970 Moulton Taylor produced the most well known flying car, the Aero Car. He designed it so that the car could drive, fly, and then drive again with no interuption. Taylor covered it in a fiberglass shell and had a 10 foot long drive shaft that connected the engine to a pusher propeller. The Aero Car was the second and last car to get FAA approval in the 1900s. Ford Motor Company even considered marketing the vehicle but the decade's oil crisis vanished those plans.
These inventors never managed to produce a workable flying car. Some even died in the process of testing these automobiles. They did, however, prove that flying cars were possible to create. This inspired a whole new group of roadable aircraft inventors.