Curtis is a hero of mine. The Wright Brothers, not understanding how patents work or what they're for, basically wouldn't let anyone else aviate. Curtis, at first wanting to collaborate with the Wrights, was snubbed. So he got a good look at the Wright patent and found that the wing warping for roll control was a central idea of the patent. And so to circumvent the patent and commercialize his own flying machines, he invented the aileron.
"Roadable airplane" is a good description. It's fundamentally an airplane that can more less function on roads. If you consider it from the perspective of going cross country in a normal plane, and then renting a car when you land, a "roadable airplane" starts to make some sense.
you actually do not need a license to fly an ultralight aircraft, as long as you only fly during the day and only under VFR rules, meaning your craft cannot fly via instrumental means, everything is visual..
James May as Scaramanga :D "as you see now Mr. Bond, I'm completely unarmed. cigarette?" ..... and then he proceeds explaining in detail every nook and cranny that his lighter is actually a functional gun, how to assemble it and then proceeds the clever engineering behind it
I remember seeing Molt Taylor driving His Aerocar going by my house many times either pulling the wings or just cruising to the neighbor hood store! the first on had just plain aluminum skin before He painted it! Molt Taylor gave me a model promo of His Aerocar, many years ago, the wings folded all in one as the full sized Car/Plane did! I still have it to this day mint in the box along with several others I have collected over many years, it was made by Gladden Toys. Ford Company wanted to build Areocar but the U.S. Government made it to hard to get through the permitting process, Molt Taylor told me personally before He passed away. I remember Bob Cummings bought one that was on His TV show around the early 60s, also a Portland Or. news station used one for traffic news! I often wonder with today's electronics and better air cooled engine choices, shepherd with Taylor's imagination and talent if we could of had one in our garage/hanger today? By the way I do think I remember the Aerocar Sweeny has was the traffic spotter for the news station! By the way the Areocar was designed and built here in Longview Washington!
Saw one of these when I was a kid (early 60's). It took off from the small airport just outside Sactramento where my uncle kept his plane. 1.5 million? Wow, wonder what they cost new.
$1.5 million is the insurance value because there's only 5 in existence. They cost just under $10,000 new which in that time period might as well been a million bucks.
@@fisherking7798 not sure. Seen a couple of videos of people testing aviation fuel in road cars, both warned not to do it on public roads because it is illegal for road use
@@fisherking7798 I don't exactly know, but it's something along the lines of this: There are 2 exactly the same fuel types. One for cars and one for something else. The one for cars, they just give a red color. If law enforcements suspect something and give you a test, and your fuel doesn't come out red, you're in trouble. I'm not sure why, presumably because there are different taxes on car fuel?
I was "Promised" at the 1964-65 Worlds Fair in New York we would all have flying cars, jet packs, trips to Mars and beyond, underwater cities, and robot laborers. Nice things to promise a 5 year old kid. I am now 60 and I don't have any of these things. Can I file a law suit for them lying to me back then?
I grew up in Kelso, Washington and met Molt Taylor once. My dad was a private pilot and was pretty good friends with him. We'd see him flying occasionally. I begged, but never got to go up in it.
hello my friend, greetings from Indonesia. very entertaining video, thank you.. oh yes, am I allowed to re-upload this cool video? please reply, good luck always for you 😀🙏
I grew up a 15-minute bicycle ride from where the Aerocar was built. The old airport and building are gone. I met Molt when I was about ~10 years old. There are a few of his "Coot" amphibious airplanes still flying around the Portland area.
I was driving from Boca Raton to Melbourne a couple of weeks ago and I saw what was unmistakably the Aerocar flying overhead. I was jealous because there was a lot of traffic.
James May, flying in the Aerocar, you have just one-upped Jeremy Clarkson by so much, that unless he drops his kids off at school in the space shuttle, he has no way of catching up to you👍
I saw one back in 1968 when I was in Springfield, Il at a drive through restaurant on rt 66. We were behind it in line and I saw a hole through the rear engine cover with dirty grease around it, it was red. I had previously seen a model of one about 1963.
"It might be a good idea to combine them." But once you start thinking about it, it's really not. First off, what you need for a car to be safe will make it too heavy to fly, and what you need for an airplane would make it unable to protect the people inside in a road accident. On top of that, a large percentage of people driving cars should not be trusted with something that goes on the ground, let alone something that can go high enough to to kill you if it falls.
Not to mention, anything big enough to fly probably won't fit on a road, and the hassle of having to deliver and attach all those extra parts makes it really less of a flying car and more of a car that can be upgraded to a plane
I did not expect him to say Glenn Curtis. I live just 25 minutes from the Curtis museum in New York state. I don't remember seeing any pictures or models of this though.
ive been talking bout this thing since it appeared on beyond 2000 back in 1990 you need 8 licences to own it....but it is my dream to own one....but not that one a remodeled version it could be built lighter and better 1950's cmon 60 years and we still cant build anything better...the powers that be..keep us trapped in 1980
There are modern alternatives. www.pal-v.com/en/explore-pal-v They still dont make much sense. You can buy a (MUCH) better car and a better plane for less money than those flying contraptions, and you can even use them both simultaneously. Its like a washing machine that can make toast, but is worse and more expensive for both functions than normal devices. Its pointless.
JAMES WTF !!! YOU ARE WAY TOO PRECIOUS AND VALUABLE TO US MERE HUMANS TO BE RISKING LIFE AND LIMB IN SUCH BIZZARE CONTRAPTIONS , I HOPE YOU HAD A PARACHUTE
You are right, he owned and flew this exact Aerocar, and it appeared on the beginning of his television show. This Aerocar was in the hanger of my flight school in Auburn, California for quite some time. It flew on many occasions and always drew a number of people to check it out. It was owned by a man from Colorado, his son was a mechanic in our flight school hanger.
Hi James - you should get over to Slovakia (once they allow travel outside the UK) and see if the folks at Klein-Vision will allow you to fly their AirCar - check it out I believe you are going to love is and I suspect you’ll probably want to buy one...
the logistics of transporting a plane from one airport to another are normaly quite high. but with this, just put the wings onto a trailer attach it to the plane/car/whatever you wanna call it and drive it to where ever its needed.
ERROR 404, you made an ERROR 404... trailer not found. The really neat thing about the Aerocar is that there is no trailer. The wings have little wheels and they become the trailer for the tail section. Super neat design.
That looks like Kissimmee airport where a lot of real old warplanes call home. A co-worker vacations there and has taken flights in a P-51 and a Texas trainer. The pilot ducks down out of sight and a camera mounted on the wing tip takes a photo of you piloting the aircraft! I doubt if we'll ever see flying cars, can you imagine the lousy drivers we have on the roads now flying over you?
Its very different. Im in the same boat as May. No problems in a plane (light aircraft, glider, hang glider or commercial airliner), but quickly terrified when Im "attached" to the ground, like on a ladder.
@@P44man That's exactly it, the connection with the ground, you know how high you are. Early balloonists did report they would get the feeling they could just step out of the basket on to the ground, they would lose any appreciation of their height.
I get most of the regulations.. just what you would need for a car and a small plane. The chauffeur licence is stupid though.. on the road it's just a small car with a trailer. I wonder if sailboats that long need the same chauffeur licence.
at that point i think it rather have a normal plane then just rent a car at whatever airport i end up at. youre only going to cover any long distances by air anyway. though i understand its reason for existing, not to be a practical solution to getting around, but to keeping the dream of a proper flying car alive.
Nowadays you can get a crewcar for free anywhere, or with gas purchases. This is from before that was widespread. The usefulness is gone, the novelty is all that remains.
