Taylor Aerocar

The Aerocar is a convertible American two-seater aircraft in the motor vehicle designed and built by Moulton B. Taylor in 1949.

The concept

“ Molt” Taylor , pilot of the US Navy in the Thirties, then commercial for Luscombe and Culver, produced little before the beginning of the Second world war an economic apparatus of radionavigation. Recalled by the Navy in 1941, it was affected with the Naval Aircraft Factory and developed various machines without pilot and ground-to-ground missiles, of which the Gorgon , and a sailplane of amphibious attack. It met in 1946 in the Delaware the inventor Robert E. Fulton Jr, who had drawn a convertible airplane in car, the Airphibian. Taylor realized immediately that the principal defect of the Airphibian was the dismountable aerofoil. Of return to Longview, Washington, it produced a motor vehicle being able to be transformed into plane in five minutes by only one person. It was enough to raise the back number plate to connect the transmission of the back propeller, located behind empennage in Y. For a road way the aerofoil was folded up along the fuselage which was transformed into a towing unit behind the vehicle. One could thus move to 96 km/h on road and up to 180 km/h in the airs. The first flight of the prototype took place on December 8th, 1949.

Development

August 29th, 1950 the prototype accomplished a first air voyage, wheel of Salem, Oregon, with Longview. In April 1951 the Aerocar gained Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, for evaluation by the US Army. 14 military pilots flew on board, but the US Army was interested then mainly in the Hélicoptères. The plane was then presented to the Pentagone and New York City, then with the Motorama exposure of Los Angeles at the beginning of November. 25 undertakings to purchase were quickly garnered for an unit price of 25.000 U$. Taylor thus engaged in a process of certification and launched the construction of a cell of static tests and 4 apparatuses of preproduction. The certification of civil aircraft 4A16 was obtained on December 14th, 1956. Remained to find an industrial partner to produce the Aerocar . After long research Moulton Taylor joined in 1961 an industrialist texan, Roy Hyde of Fort Worth, Texas, to create with Longview Aerocar International. Aerocar International made an agreement with Ling-Temco-Vought for the series production, provided one can guarantee 500 orders. But the number of orders never exceeded 250 and the plans of series production fell through. Deceased in 1995, Moulton B. Taylor passed the remainder of its life to be sought how to produce in series its idea. Six specimens only were built: 5 Aerocar I and 1 Aerocar II . The last built apparatus was repurchased by Molt Taylor and was modified in Aerocar III .

Six specimens

Aerocar I

Aerocar I c/n 1: The first Aerocar then N4994P was painted in yellow with wings money. Sold 10.000 U$ in 1952 at firm BF Goodrich, it is preserved today at the AirVenture Museum of Oshkosh.
Aerocar I c/n2: Painted entirely in red, it was carried on the American register in 1956. Used in the meetings, it had as a passenger Raul Castro, the brother of Fidel Castro at the time of a demonstration flight which ended in a landing of fortune. Used in the Sixties by the radio station of Portland cement KISN to supervise the road traffic, it became in 1977 the property of collectors of cars of Grand Junction, Colorado, after having carried out its last vol. It was spent on sale in September 2006 for 3,5 million dollars by Marilyn Felling !
Aerocar I c/n 3: Became the property of Yellowstone Aviation Inc, in the Wyoming.
Aerocar I c/n 4: The last Aerocar I builds, paints it in yellow and blue, was the property of the actor Bob Cummings, who used it in his televised show. This apparatus is today property of ED Sweeney, and only the Aerocar in a state of vol. It is also this apparatus which inspired with ED Sweeney the Aerocar 2000.

Aerocar II

Aerocar II c/n 1: Also carrying designation Aerocar Airplane, this light plane accomplished its first flight in 1964. The aerofoil and the fuselage tail section were identical to those of the Aerocar I , but the fuselage entirely was redrawn, built out of glass fiber and equipped with a three-wheeled train. The Aerocar II not being convertible in the motor vehicle, the profit of weight obtained by removing the road equipment made it possible to carry 2 additional passengers. This apparatus was proposed with the sale for 9.995 U$, but 1 only prototype was built, preserved today at Colorado Springs by ED Sweeney.

Aerocar III

Aerocar III c/n 1: Painted in red with wings money, a Aerocar I was repurchased with its owner by Moulton B. Taylor after broken in the Sixties, and being modified in Aerocar III: The fuselage was refined considerably and increased wing, the engine replaced by a more powerful Lycoming twists it. The car manufacturer Ford was interested a time in the project, but once again no series production will be carried out. Become, single the Aerocar III is today exposed to the Museum off Flight of Seattle.

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