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The Convair Model 116 ConvAirCar was a prototype
"No. 2722. Convair 118 ConvairCar (NX90850)."
''Johan Visschedijk Collection'', June 18, 2003. Retrieved: May 23, 2010. Two examples of the Model 118 flew in 1947 and after a crash of the first prototype, the second continued with the test program, but enthusiasm for the project waned and Convair cancelled the program. The rights of both the Model 116/118 reverted to Hall, who formed T.R Hall Engineering Corp., but the definitive Model 118 in its new incarnation, never achieved production status.
Flights of Fantasy
{{Convair/GD aircraft Roadable aircraft 116 Single-engined tractor aircraft High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1946
roadable aircraft
A flying car or roadable aircraft is a type of vehicle which can function both as a road vehicle and as an aircraft. As used here, this includes vehicles which drive as motorcycles when on the road. The term "flying car" is also sometimes u ...
that was intended to exploit the post-war aviation market. The vehicle was further developed into the Convair Model 118, but neither type achieved production status.Yenne 1993, p. 117.
Design and development
Consolidated Vultee Aircraft (laterConvair
Convair, previously Consolidated Vultee, was an American aircraft manufacturing company that later expanded into rockets and spacecraft. The company was formed in 1943 by the merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee Aircraft. In 1953, i ...
) like many other manufacturers, had anticipated the post-war aviation boom would require a commercially viable product. Aircraft engineer and designer Theodore P. "Ted" Hall who had studied the concept of a flying car before World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, with Consolidated, had unsuccessfully proposed the idea for use in commando-type raids.
Following the end of the War, Hall and Tommy Thompson designed and developed the Convair Model 116 featured in ''Popular Mechanics'' magazine in 1946. The Model 116 consisted of a two-seat car body, powered by a rear-mounted 26 hp (19 kW) engine, with detachable monoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...
wings and tail boom, fitted with their own tractor configuration
In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher co ...
90 hp (67 kW) Franklin 4A4 (later 95 hp 4AL) engine driving a two bladed wooden propeller.
Operational history
The Model 116 (NX90654) flew on July 12, 1946, with pilot Russell Rogers at the controls. The sole prototype completed 66 test flights.Wegg 1990, p. 184. Hall subsequently designed a more sophisticated development of the Model 116, with a more refined car body and a more powerful "flight" engine known as the Model 118 (which also bore the name "ConvAirCar").''Johan Visschedijk Collection'', June 18, 2003. Retrieved: May 23, 2010. Two examples of the Model 118 flew in 1947 and after a crash of the first prototype, the second continued with the test program, but enthusiasm for the project waned and Convair cancelled the program. The rights of both the Model 116/118 reverted to Hall, who formed T.R Hall Engineering Corp., but the definitive Model 118 in its new incarnation, never achieved production status.
Specifications (Model 116)
See also
References
;Notes ;Bibliography * Wegg, John. ''General Dynamics Aircraft and their Predecessors''. London: Putnam, 1990. . * Yenne, Bill. ''The World's Worst Aircraft''. New York: Dorset Press, 1993. .External links
Flights of Fantasy
{{Convair/GD aircraft Roadable aircraft 116 Single-engined tractor aircraft High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1946