Francis Laur and his flying bus

[Jemiba]

On the 13th of September 1909, the french engineer Francis Laur announced the invention of a "flying bus", that
should be used in and around Paris.It was a kind of large aircraft, driven by one tractor and one pusher props, powered
by electric engines and fitted with wings. But instead of achieving free flight, it should be guided by a monorail system,
which doubled as electrical supply line. The vehicle wit an empty weigt of about 5 tons and a fully laden weight of up to
12 tons should carry 60 to 100 passengers with a speed of up to 100 km/h, later even 300km/h were claimed. An interesting
feature the wing with variable incidence.

(From Fliegerkalender 2014)

 

[Stargazer]

Very interesting! I can imagine the sound nuisance to the neighborhoods it would have gone through!

 

[shedofdread]

In equal measures, both mad and wonderful! I wonder, why the wings? To unload [to a degree] the pylon / rail structures?

 

[Stargazer]

In equal measures, both mad and wonderful! I wonder, why the wings? To unload [to a degree] the pylon / rail structures?

I don't think these are wings but probably more something like air brakes, tilting to slow down that mad contraption!

 

[Jemiba]

The articles mentions exactly what sod suggested: Unloading the rail at higher speeds. To achieve lift, the incidence
of the wing could be changed by using a crank handle. To stop this thing, the driver would do vice versa. The author
sugests, that the increasing load would activate the braking system.