Aerocar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerocar

Aerocar International's Aerocar (often called the Taylor Aerocar) was an
American roadable aircraft, designed and built by Moulton Taylor in Longview,
Washington, in 1949. Although six examples were built, the Aerocar never entered
production.

Taylor's design of a roadable aircraft dates back to 1946. During a trip to
Delaware, he met inventor Robert E. Fulton, Jr., who had designed an earlier
roadable airplane, the Airphibian. Taylor recognized that the detachable wings
of Fulton’s design would be better replaced by folding wings. His prototype
Aerocar utilized folding wings that allowed the road vehicle to be converted
into flight mode in five minutes by one person. When the rear license plate was
flipped up, the operator could connect the propeller shaft and attach a pusher
propeller. The same engine drove the front wheels through a three-speed manual
transmission. When operated as an aircraft, the road transmission was simply
left in neutral (though backing up during taxiing was possible by the using the
reverse gear.) On the road, the wings and tail unit were designed to be towed
behind the vehicle. Aerocars could drive up to 60 miles per hour and have a top
airspeed of 110 miles per hour.

Civil certification was gained in 1956 under the auspices of the Civil
Aeronautics Administration (CAA), and Taylor reached a deal with
Ling-Temco-Vought for serial production on the proviso that he was able to
attract 500 orders. When he was able to find only half that number of buyers,
plans for production ended, and only six examples were built, with one still
flying as of 2008 and another rebuilt by Taylor into the only Aerocar III. In
2013, the Disney film, Planes honored the design with a character based on the
aerocar, Franz aka Fliegenhosen.

Role
roadable aircraft

Manufacturer
Aerocar International

Designer
Moulton Taylor

First flight
1949

Number built
6

Specifications (Aerocar I)

General characteristics
Crew: one
Capacity: 1 passenger
Length: 21 ft 6 in (6.55 m)
Wingspan: 34 ft 0 in (10.36 m)
Height: 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m)
Wing area: 190 sq ft (18 m2)
Empty weight: 1,500 lb (680 kg)
Gross weight: 2,100 lb (953 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Lycoming O-320 air-cooled flat-four, 143 hp (107 kW)
Propellers: 2-bladed Hartzell HA12 UF, 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) diameter

Performance
Maximum speed: 117 mph (188 km/h; 102 kn)
Cruise speed: 97 mph (156 km/h; 84 kn)
Stall speed: 50 mph (80 km/h; 43 kn)
Range: 300 mi (261 nmi; 483 km)
Service ceiling: 12,000 ft (3,700 m)
Rate of climb: 610 ft/min (3.1 m/s)



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