Convair Model 118
| Model 118 ConVairCar | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Type: | Flying car |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
November 1, 1947 |
| Number of pieces: |
2 |
The Convair Model 118 ConvAirCar (also known as the Hall Flying Automobile after the designer Ted Hall ) was a prototype flying car , two of which were built. The planned target group was the general public. Two prototypes were built and flown. The first prototype was damaged after an emergency landing due to lack of fuel. Then the second prototype was built from the parts of the damaged prototype and flown. Up to this point, little buyer interest in the project could be gained and the program was terminated shortly afterwards.
construction and development
Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation (later Convair) sought entry into the post-war aviation boom with a flying car for a large group of buyers. Theodore P. "Ted" Hall had studied the concept of a flying car before World War II , but the company had unsuccessfully proposed the idea of such a vehicle for use in commando units during the war.
After the end of the war, Hall and Tommy Thompson designed and developed the Convair Model 116 flying car . It was featured in Popular Mechanics magazine in 1946. It consisted of a two-seater body, powered by a rear-mounted 26 hp engine, with a detachable monoplane wing, tail unit and a pull propeller configuration with a 90 hp Franklin 4A4 engine and two-bladed wooden propeller. The flying car flew on July 12, 1946 and made 66 test flights. Hall then developed a more complex model than the 116, with an optimized airframe and a more powerful aircraft engine. A 25 HP Crosley engine was housed in the rear of the four-seater plastic body as the "car engine", while a 190 HP Lycoming O-435C was used to power the "aircraft". A high production target of 160,000 vehicles was envisaged, with a projected price of $ 1,500 per vehicle. Convair expected the Model 118 to be purchased in large numbers to be rented out at airports.
history
Test pilot Reuben Snodgrass first flew the prototype with registration NX90850 on November 15, 1947. On November 18, 1947, during a one-hour flight demonstration, he made an emergency landing near San Diego due to lack of fuel . The airframe was badly damaged and the wings were damaged. The pilot, who got away with minor injuries, reported that there was not enough jet fuel on board. Although the fuel gauge had been checked visually during the pre-flight inspection, everything indicated that the tank of the "automobile", i.e. the fuel gauge for the car engine, had been mistaken for the fuel gauge for the aircraft engine mounted below it. Using the same wing and a different car, the second prototype flew again on January 29, 1948, piloted by WG Griswold. But the enthusiasm for the project had already subsided and Convair no longer participated in the program. The patents were returned to Hall. He founded TR Hall Engineering Corp., but the Model 118, in its new version, never reached production status.
Technical data (Model 118)
Source: General Dynamics Aircraft and their Predecessors
- Span: 10.49 m
- Height: 2.54 m
- Empty weight: 691 kg
- Gross weight: 1157 kg
- Powerplant: 1 × Lycoming O-435C, air-cooled boxer engine , 190 PS (140 kW)
- Powerplant: 1 × Crosley air-cooled, 25 PS (19 kW) (street engine)
- Cruising speed 201 km / h
See also
literature
- Wegg, John. General Dynamics Aircraft and their Predecessors . London: Putnam, 1990. ISBN 0-85177-833-X .
- Yenne, Bill. The World's Worst Aircraft . New York: Dorset Press, 1993. ISBN 0-88029-490-6 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Yenne 1993, p. 117.
- ↑ Wegg 1990, p. 184.
- ↑ " Aerocar ". fiddlersgreen.net . Retrieved May 23, 2010.
- ↑ a b c Wegg 1990, pp. 186-187.
- ^ "Flying Auto Crashes; Lands in California Mud Flats - Pilot Is Only Bruised. The New York Times , Nov. 19, 1947.
- ↑ " No. 2722. Convair 118 ConvairCar (NX90850). “ Johan Visschedijk Collection , June 18, 2003. Retrieved May 23, 2010.