Weburbanist recently had a terrific article about the history of car/planes. These are vehicles that can both drive and fly. The article caught my attention because it wasn’t all that long ago that I wrote about the Terrafugia Transition which was being dubbed the world’s first flying car. What I learned from the Weburbanist article is that this is not the first car of its kind at all!

Some of the other stuff I learned from the article:

• The first working prototype of this type of vehicle was made way back in 1917. That’s almost one hundred years ago! It didn’t actually fly but it did get off the ground. Amazing!
• These types of vehicles were commissioned during the Great Depression because it was believed that they could be built for less than normal airplanes. Hm.
• One of the leading designs of the the twentieth century ended up scaring people off because it crashed during testing and killed the pilot.
• One guy, Paul Moller, has been working on his driveable plane design for over four decades.
• The Terrafugia Transition looks a lot like a design called The Aerocar which is arguably the most successful design to date.
• The biggest problem with these car designs to date is that they’re too heavy on the air and too slow on the ground. If that issue can be remedied then these vehicles may just take off.

Tags: airplane car, car plane, driveable plane, flying car, roadable plane

As a SmartChick I find myself completely interested in impossible car design concepts. For awhile I was totally in love with the Aptera, a three-wheeled car that’s designed by a company in Southern California. I don’t particularly even want a car at all but for half a second I was convinced that this would be the car that I did want if I were to get a car because I just loved how unique and innovative and interesting the design of this green vehicle was.

The car that I’m feeling that way about at the moment is the Terrafugia Transition. Appealing to all of those people who have wondered when we’d have flying cars like the Jetson’s had, this is said to be the world’s first flying car (although in design it’s really more of an airplane that can also do well on the road).

The Terrafugia made some headlines this month when it was finally tested out in the air by a pilot in New York. Launched as a concept in 2006 by MIT business and aerodynamics students, it was finally ready to be flown for real. It only lasted 37 seconds in the air but it was pronounced a success in terms of a milestone for getting the car ready for the road.

The car is basically a plane that can be folded up to look and drive like a car. It reaches highway speeds, gets 30mpg using regular fuel and functions as a small two-seater car would function. The difference is that it can fly distances up to 500 miles away (in theory, anyway) so it can be used for some light travel that isn’t on the road.

It’s an interesting concept. The makers of this car are pegging 2011 as the date when it could be customer-ready so we’ll have to just keep an eye on them until then and see what happens in terms of the developing the design.

Tags: airplane car, auto, car, car plane, concept car, design, flying car, hubpages, innovation, jetsons, kathryn vercill, terrafugia, transition