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Aircraft And Military Development & Applications

 

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Flying-Cars-Listings-1

History Introduction To Today

Even before the first cars were invented, man has dreamed of creating road transport that can also fly.

But a commercially successful flying car has so far proved elusive. In the next few years several are in the running to get off the ground – in this story we take a look at more than a century of flying car development, and it’s quite a tale:

Curtiss Autoplane (1917)
With a length of 27 feet and a wing span of 40 feet, the Curtiss had a four-bladed propeller at the rear to get airborne. The Curtiss Autoplane did get off the ground, but not for very far. So although it was only capable of short hops it was still the world's first flying car.

MCP

MCP

Waterman Arrowbile (1937)
Using mainly Studebaker parts, Waldo Waterman (1894-1976) created a car that could fly as early as 1937, when the first prototype was capable of touching 120mph in the air. A further two machines were made before the project foundered. Waterman returned in 1957 with a revamped flying car called the Aerobile, powered by a Tucker Torpedo flat-six engine – but only the one prototype was produced.

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