Waterman Aerobile
The Waterman Aerobile , also known as Aeromobile or Arrowbile , is an airworthy automobile developed by the American Waldo Waterman.
history
Waterman was originally concerned with the idea of creating a foolproof folk airplane . His first aircraft was a near-flying wing with a duck tail. This was on a boom in front of the fuselage. After some contemporaries asked Waldo what this strange device was supposed to represent, he briefly called it "Whatsit".
The next draft was called Arrowplan or W4 and already showed the typical design with swept wings. Waterman went next with the idea of designing a roadworthy vehicle that could be fitted with a wing at an airfield in a short time.
The first flying car, which flew multiple times and was recreated multiple times, was designed by Waldo Waterman. On March 21, 1937, he made the maiden flight of the Arrowbile or Aerobile.
Waterman envisioned operating a chain of airfields with "wing rental". The five Aeromobile or later called Aerobile or Arrowbile test model showed good flight characteristics. As a road vehicle, the propeller was disengaged and the engine then drove the rear wheels. The span of the Aerobiles was 11.7 m and the length 6.10 m. The devices, equipped with a 95 hp Menasco engine, reached speeds of up to 170 km / h in the air. The machine shown here has been preserved to this day.
literature
- Rudolf Storck: Flying Wings . The historical development of the world's tailless and flying wing aircraft. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 2003, ISBN 3-7637-6242-6 , pp. 64 .
- Bridgman, Leonard (1941). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1941. London: Sampson, Low, Marston and Co. Ltd. P. 232c.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ The World's First Flying Car. (Video) Smithsonian Channel, April 2, 2013, accessed on January 29, 2015 (English, from Dean of Invention, Discovery Channel ): "Waterman's Aerobile was one of three winners of the US Bureau of Aeronautics's contest (at 1:42 min .) "