Colin Furze found his own way to hover around, https://www.neatorama.com/story/Jet-Suit-Hoverboarding/ but back in 1959, you could zip along in Curtiss-Wright Model 2500 Air-Car. Or maybe not, as there weren't many built. Curtiss-Wright is an aircraft company, but delved into experimental vehicles for the military, including this hover car.
Each engine was used to drive, via reduction gears, a single four-bladed lift fan placed within a plenum chamber. The two chambers created a cushion of air 10-15 inches thick. Forward propulsion was supplied by air bled off the chambers and expelled at low velocity through two sets of louvers on each side of the vehicle.It was big and heavy and pretty cool, but that seemed to be about ll it had going for it. Both prototype models are still in existence. Read more at Vintage Everyday. (via Nag on the Lake)
It was fairly maneuverable and could reach speeds up to 38 mph. It was not really capable of all-terrain operation and never caught on commercially.
No comments:
Post a Comment