An Aerocar Series I prototype. Photo by Lotzman Katzman.
The dream of flying cars has likely been with us since the first automotive traffic jam, but making the leap from concept to certification and beyond proved impossible for many budding inventors. Though today’s Terrafugia Transition may ultimately prove to be the first successful roadable aircraft, in the 1950s it seemed as if that distinction would go to the Aerocar, invented by Moulton (Molt) Taylor.
To be clear, Taylor didn’t pioneer the flying car prototype; in fact, the first such model was likely the Curtiss Autoplane of 1917, which proved incapable of anything resembling true flight. It wasn’t until 1937 that the ungainly looking Waterman Arrowbile proved that flying cars were possible, though this model never progressed beyond the prototype stage.
The post-war years saw a resurgence in interest about flying cars, perhaps because the Second World War had somewhat demystified the science of flight. In 1946, Robert Edison Fulton Jr. debuted his Fulton Airphibian flying car, which featured a fuselage that could be split in two; the front half became a primitive automobile, while the assembly that formed the permanent wings and tail was intended to be left behind at the airport. Though the Airphibian never progressed beyond the prototype stage either, it did influence the thinking of aeronautical engineer Molt Taylor.
Taylor thought the concept of leaving half the vehicle behind was flawed, so he penned a design that featured a folding, towable wing and tail assembly. Designed to be converted from automobile to airplane by a single person in under five minutes, the Taylor Aerocar saw its first official test flight in December of 1949.
Still primitive by automobile standards of the day, the Aerocar featured an air-cooled Lycoming flat-four engine, positioned over the rear wheels. A three-speed manual transmission provided drive to the front wheels, and this road transmission was simply placed into neutral when the Aerocar was in flight mode. Part of the conversion process from automobile to airplane involved the fitting of a tail cone and propeller assembly, which was driven by a power take-off located behind the rear license plate.
To save weight, aluminum was used in construction of the frame, wings, tail and ailerons, while the fuselage was covered in fiberglass panels. The Aerocar’s steering wheel operated the front wheels on the ground, but was also linked to ailerons and elevator flaps to provide bank and pitch control in flight. On the floorboard, positioned outside the clutch and brake pedals, were rudder control pedals, and the throttle (for both road use and flight) consisted of a dashboard-mounted knob.
At the end of a flight segment, converting from airplane to car was as simple as deploying wing-mounted braces and wheels, folding the wings back alongside the tail superstructure, stowing the propeller, disengaging the tail assembly and controls and rotating the tail into the towing position. Once home, the tail portion could be parked, leaving the Aerocar’s cabin to double as a compact car.
Early development of the Aerocar continued throughout 1950, and its first long flight (from Salem, Oregon, to Longview, Washington) took place on August 29, 1950. Thanks to Taylor’s relentless efforts at promotion (on television, as well as at auto and aircraft shows), rising consumer interest allowed him to attract investors to back his flying car concept.
Incorporation allowed Taylor to raise an additional $750,000 via sale of company stock, and in May of 1954 an improved version (that solved the issue of vibration in the long propeller shaft) was submitted to Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) for certification. On December 14, 1956, the Aerocar became the first certified airplane that could also be driven on U.S. highways, a feat that has yet to be duplicated.
Though Taylor continued to build Aerocar Series I prototypes into 1960, finding a manufacturer willing to construct the Aerocar at anything resembling a reasonable price proved elusive. While public interest was rampant in the 1950s, part of that stemmed from a projected selling price in early literature of between $3,000 and $4,000. Later literature would revise that price upward to “under $10,000,” but Taylor still had difficulty finding a suitable manufacturing partner.
In 1961, Aerocar International Corporation penned a deal with Ling-Temco-Vought to produce the Aerocar, but the agreement was short-lived. Some blame its failure on the inability to attract the 500 buyers needed to implement production, while others attribute the demise of the partnership to the use of deposit money for advertising instead of tooling. Whatever the reason, the Aerocar never saw series production, though Taylor spent the rest of his life building improved prototypes (like the Series II and Series III Aerocars) and seeking a manufacturing partner.
Though the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s delivered the promise of flying cars in magazines, movies and television shows, the reality of stress-free commutes above the sweltering stench of traffic jams never quite materialized. The Aerocar kept that dream alive for many, not just its inventor, and the groundwork that it built may one day lead to a practical and (somewhat) affordable flying car.