History Of Flying Car

If you thought flying cars were the domain of sci fi movies or the reality-stretching James Bond films then you'd be surprised. The concept has been around since the early days of motoring, when intrepid aviators and auto pioneers envisioned a time when cars ruled the sky as they did the road. The fact that in 2011 we don't have a mass produced flying car is testament to the ill-fated efforts of some of those early innovators, but there is hope, thanks to twenty first century advances.

The first flying car, or roadable aircraft, came in 1917 via Wright Brothers rival Glenn Curtiss who having been beaten into the air by designing the three-wing Curtiss Autoplane. The vehicle could only hop, but spawned an engineering race that, despite modern successes, has yet to come of age.

Click to read more »

flying car roadable aircraft

A flying car or roadable aircraft is an aircraft that can also travel along roads. All the working examples have required some manual or automated process of conversion between the two modes of operation.

A slightly different concept that is sometimes referred to as a "flying car", particularly in science fiction, is that of an aircraft that would be practical enough for every-day travel, but would not necessarily be drivable on the roads.

flying car