Flying Cars And Roadable Aircraft

Finally.
 

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The flying car in sci fi stories usually relies for lift on some form of "anti-gravity" lift engine. That is certainly true of Syd Mead's famous concept art. This removes the downblast we know from Harriers and Helicopters.
Until such an engine is designed a true flying car as opposed to a roadable helicopter is a pipedream
 
Hi,

a flying Bubble Car ?;

 

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The most cars on the road have one passenger. Making a flying aircraft for one person is not unreasonable provided the endurance and/or L/D targets in cruise are sensible. I. E. Not a flying mega drone.
 

thebre4ker 4 points · 2 days ago

The top image is the cover, depicting the vehicle’s use alongside contemporary modes of transportation. The bottom image is an illustrated inner-page placing the Levacar in the lineage of transportation technologies, as the next stage in its evolution beyond jet powered flight.

The idea was a vehicle without wheels, that instead rode atop “levapads” that produced a cushion of air, pumped between it and the steel rail that served as a road. Propelled forward with propellers or jets, it would be most economical at speeds of 125mph, but could go as fast as 500mph. And while there was a small single-passenger Levacar built as a proof of concept, the intent was for this to be the future of ground-based public transportation. With larger Levacars like the imagined “City-Center Express,” the technology could carry 40 passengers or more from city to city, at the same speeds as commercial aircraft, using a fraction of the power.

After laying all this out, the brochure ends with the question, “What will the future hold for the Levacar?”

Credit: https://rogerstrunk.com/
 
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If you are interested I have done profiles of the Curtiss Autoplane and posted them in the artwork area here:

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/is-it-a-car-a-plane-its-the-curtiss-autoplane.34786/

My opinion on flying cars or roadable aircraft is that it will not come about until they are self driving / flying because I'm sure that most of us have seen the multitudes of idiot drivers out there and I could only imagine the carnage that would result from them attempting to operate in 3d space. I consider myself a good driver but would hesitate to take my skills into the air.
 

thebre4ker 4 points · 2 days ago

The top image is the cover, depicting the vehicle’s use alongside contemporary modes of transportation. The bottom image is an illustrated inner-page placing the Levacar in the lineage of transportation technologies, as the next stage in its evolution beyond jet powered flight.

The idea was a vehicle without wheels, that instead rode atop “levapads” that produced a cushion of air, pumped between it and the steel rail that served as a road. Propelled forward with propellers or jets, it would be most economical at speeds of 125mph, but could go as fast as 500mph. And while there was a small single-passenger Levacar built as a proof of concept, the intent was for this to be the future of ground-based public transportation. With larger Levacars like the imagined “City-Center Express,” the technology could carry 40 passengers or more from city to city, at the same speeds as commercial aircraft, using a fraction of the power.

After laying all this out, the brochure ends with the question, “What will the future hold for the Levacar?”

Credit: https://rogerstrunk.com/
That sounds a lot like the Aérotrain of Jean Bertin.
 
From, Экранопланы (Техника и вооружение),

what was this ?.
 

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Gero Tailless convertible airplane and roadmobile project

From the SDASM archives, a set of pictures of the Gero Roadmobile, a tailless convertible airplane and roadmobile project by Adelard J Gero Jr.

View: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/31098607464/in/photostream/

And G. Bishop identified a patent that seems relevant: https://www.google.com/patents/US2609167

The wings look rather worrying to me...

Hi,

View: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/31565183160
 

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The 50s comic strip Magnus Robofighter shows the classic idea of flying cars. Only 1, 980 years to go!
 

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I recently came across a TV news item about the Dutch PAL-V autogyro flying car. Estimated delivery times remain unchanged: in two years time. Deliveries were expected in two years when I first heard about the project back in 2017, and now they are still saying in two years.

As I said earlier in this thread, I don't think there is anything technically unfeasible about the project, it is just that the market doesn't exist.

Here it is
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFW_0C7yFCI
 
 
Jules Mandelker, also known as Ulysse, a teenager living in Chicoutimi (Québec), in the Lac St-Jean area, may have been the first Quebecker to design his own airplane. This very small biplane, built no later than the mid-20s, when Mandelker was 16 or so, probably never flew. We know for a fact it was never registered. Its final whereabouts are unknown.

A decade later, this francophone jeweler fascinated by flight designed a most intriguing vehicle, possibly the most original Canadian homebuilt airplane of the interwar years. As described in an article published in the January 1938 issue of the American magazine Mechanics and Handicraft, it was somewhat egg-like in appearance. An air-cooled engine mounted in the rear drove a pusher propeller. The vehicle could be fitted with wheels, skis or floats. The main body was red, with yellow markings. The twin rudders and landing gear fairings, on the other hand, were blue and yellow.

If one is to believe the text, and the full colour cover illustration on the cover of the magazine, the Mandelker flying car came - or was to provided - with a set of blue and yellow wings, mounted low on the fuselage. If need be, these wings could be strapped to the sides of the vehicle. In all likelihood, the flying car never actually flew but was said to reach very high speeds on smooth ice. Its final whereabouts are also unknown.
 

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Better than a "Hypercar" will be an "Ultracar" ... a flying car SSAC acronym for SuperSonic Air Car, today anything is possible ...! Motocar
 
A flying car from the 90's !

Two clippings from either Air Pictorial, Air International or Air Enthusiast of a Citroen astride a Boeing 707.

I think it was for a Citroen BX19 TV advert from around 1990-91 and was filmed in France.
 

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A flying car from the 90's !

Two clippings from either Air Pictorial, Air International or Air Enthusiast of a Citroen astride a Boeing 707.

I think it was for a Citroen BX19 TV advert from around 1990-91 and was filmed in France.
were they testing the weight capabilities of the jet?
 
The question of flying cars is usually framed as an engineering challenge, but the real problem is economics. David Lister in 'The Dark Age of Tanks' has some interesting figures about the British P35 jumping jeep project of the 60s. In 1966, BAC had forecast that such a vehicle would cost about 45-50.000 GBP. At the time, a Ferret scout car was 7.000 GBP, a two seat helicopter cost 20.000 GBP and a Westland Scout helicopter 75.000 GBP. As there was no guarantee the actual price of the P35 wouldn't go up, and the War Office was perenially strapped for cash, they gave up on the whole idea.
 

At this link is a 750 slide pdf presentation called The Roadable Aircraft Story. It apparently is a handout for an online course on flying cars. I imagine it will find a receptive audience in this thread.
 

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Another legal hurdle taken for the PAL-V Liberty

 
As ever the late Gerry Anderson was on the case.. The lower flying car known usually as the Joe 90 car is easily found as a toy on Ebay.
 

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