Convair Model 118

Last updated

Model 118 ConVairCar
ConvairCar Model 118.jpg
Company photograph taken over San Diego, California, USA, November 1947
Role Flying car
National originUnited States of America
ManufacturerConvair
DesignerTed Hall
First flightNovember 1, 1947 (Model 116: 1946)
Number built2
Developed from Convair Model 116

The Convair Model 118 ConvAirCar (also known as the Hall Flying Automobile) was a prototype flying car of which two were built. Intended for mainstream consumers, two prototypes were built and flown. The first prototype was lost in an accident due to fuel exhaustion. Subsequently, the second prototype was rebuilt from the damaged aircraft and flown. By that time, little enthusiasm remained for the project and the program ended shortly thereafter. [1]

Contents

Design and development

Consolidated Vultee Aircraft (later Convair) was seeking entry into the post-war aviation boom with a mainstream flying car. Theodore P. "Ted" Hall had studied the concept of a flying car before World War II, with Consolidated unsuccessfully proposing 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 Flying Car, featured in Popular Mechanics magazine in 1946, [2] which consisted of a two-seat car body, powered by a rear-mounted 26 hp (19 kW) engine, with detachable monoplane wings and tail, fitted with their own tractor configuration 90 hp (67 kW) Franklin 4A4 engine driving a two-bladed wooden propeller. This flew on July 12, 1946, completing 66 test flights. [3]

Hall subsequently designed a more sophisticated development of the Model 116, with a more refined car body and a more powerful "flight" engine. A 25 hp (19 kW) Crosley engine was in the rear, powering the plastic-bodied four-seat car and a 190 hp (142 kW) Lycoming O-435C was used for the powerplant of the aircraft. A lofty production target of 160,000 was planned, with a projected $1,500 price tag. Convair anticipated that the Model 118 would be purchased in large numbers to be rented at airports. [4]

Operational history

Test pilot Reuben Snodgrass flew the prototype, registration No. NX90850, for the first time on November 15, 1947. On November 18, 1947, while on a one-hour demonstration flight, it made a low fuel forced landing near San Diego, California, destroying the car body [5] and damaging the wing. The pilot, who escaped with minor injuries, reportedly took off with little or no aviation fuel aboard. Although the fuel gauge he had visually checked during the pre-flight check indicated that the tank was full, it was the automobile's fuel gauge, not the aircraft's gauge. [6] Using the same wing and another car body, the second prototype flew again on January 29, 1948, piloted by W.G. Griswold, but enthusiasm for the project waned and Convair cancelled the program. [7] The rights reverted to Hall, who formed T.R Hall Engineering Corp., but the Model 118 in its new incarnation never achieved production status. [5]

Specifications (Model 118)

Data from General Dynamics Aircraft and their Predecessors [5]

General characteristics

Performance

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Convair F2Y Sea Dart</span> Hydroski jet fighter, U.S. Navy, 1953

The Convair F2Y Sea Dart is an American seaplane fighter aircraft that rode on twin hydro-skis during takeoff and landing. It flew only as a prototype, and never entered mass production. It is the only seaplane to have exceeded the speed of sound.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piper PA-24 Comanche</span> American four- or six-seat monoplane built 1956–1972

The Piper PA-24 Comanche is an American single-engine, low-wing, all-metal monoplane of semimonocoque construction with tricycle retractable landing gear and four or six seats. The Comanche was designed and built by Piper Aircraft and first flew on May 24, 1956. Together with the PA-30 and PA-39 Twin Comanches, it made up the core of Piper's lineup until 1972, when the production lines for both aircraft were destroyed in the 1972 Lock Haven flood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stinson L-13</span>

The Stinson L-13 is a US military utility aircraft first flown in 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Convair XF-92</span> Experimental interceptor aircraft

The Convair XF-92 is an American, delta wing, first-generation jet prototype. Originally conceived as a point-defence interceptor, the design was later used purely for experimental purposes and only one was built. However, it led Convair to use the delta-wing on a number of designs, including the F-102 Delta Dagger, F-106 Delta Dart, B-58 Hustler, the US Navy's F2Y Sea Dart as well as the VTOL FY Pogo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche</span> American twin-engined cabin monoplane built 1962–1972

The Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche is an American twin-engined cabin monoplane designed and built by Piper Aircraft. It was a twin-engined development of the PA-24 Comanche single-engined aircraft. A variant with counter-rotating propellers was designated the Piper PA-39 Twin Comanche C/R.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piper PA-34 Seneca</span> Twin engine light aircraft

The Piper PA-34 Seneca is a twin-engined light aircraft, produced in the United States by Piper Aircraft. It has been in non-continuous production since 1971. The Seneca is primarily used for personal and business flying as well as multi-engine class rating flight training.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stinson 108</span> Popular single-engine high-winged monoplane produced 1946-1950

The Stinson 108 is a popular single-engine, four-seat, light general aviation aircraft produced by the Stinson division of the American airplane company Consolidated Vultee, from immediately after World War II to 1950. The 108 was developed from the prewar Model 10A Voyager.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Convair XFY Pogo</span> American experimental VTOL aircraft

The Convair XFY-1 Pogo is an experimental V/STOL aircraft developed during the early years of the Cold War. It was intended to be a high-performance fighter aircraft capable of operating from small warships. Lockheed and Convair were awarded contracts to build experimental VTOL fighters, with Convair producing the XFY-1, also known as the "Pogo." It was developed as an attempt to create a practical V/STOL aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piasecki VZ-8 Airgeep</span> VTOL aircraft prototype by Piasecki Aircraft

The Piasecki VZ-8 Airgeep was a prototype vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft developed by Piasecki Aircraft. The Airgeep was developed to fulfill a U.S. Army Transportation Research Command contract for a flying jeep in 1957. The flying jeep was envisioned to be smaller and easier to fly than a helicopter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auster Autocar</span> 1940s British light aircraft

The Auster J/5 Autocar was a late 1940s British single-engined four-seat high-wing touring monoplane built by Auster Aircraft Limited at Rearsby, Leicestershire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Consolidated PT-11</span> Type of aircraft

The Consolidated Model 21 was an American two-seat training aircraft built by the Consolidated Aircraft Company. It was used by the United States Army Air Corps with the designation PT-11 and the United States Coast Guard under the designation N4Y.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fleet Model 1</span> Type of aircraft

The Fleet Model 1 and its derivatives are a family of two-seat trainer and sports biplanes produced in the United States and Canada in the 1920s and 1930s. They all shared the same basic design and varied mainly in their powerplants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piper Aerostar</span> Type of aircraft

The Piper Aerostar is an American twin-engined propeller-driven executive or light transport aircraft, designed by Ted R. Smith. It was originally built by Ted Smith Aircraft Company, but the design was acquired in 1978 by the Piper Aircraft Corporation, which continued production of the aircraft as the PA-60.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stinson Airliner</span> Type of aircraft

The Stinson SM-6000 Airliner was a 1930s three-engined (trimotor) ten-passenger airliner designed and built by the Stinson Aircraft Corporation. The SM-6000 was a high-wing braced monoplane with room for a pilot and a cabin for ten passengers. It was powered by three 215 hp (160 kW) Lycoming R-680 engines strut-mounted one each side above the main landing gear units and one in the nose. A number of variants were built mainly with improved interiors. In 1932 the Model U Airliner was produced which had low-set stub wings with additional two engines mounted on each wing complementing the existing nose mounted center engine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Convair Model 116</span> American prototype roadable aircraft

The Boeing Model 116 ConvAirCar was a prototype roadable aircraft 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stinson Model O</span> Type of aircraft

The Stinson Model O was an American single-engined military trainer aircraft of the 1930s designed built by the Stinson Aircraft Company. Based on the Stinson SR, the Model O was designed to meet a requirement of the Honduran Air Force, forming the initial equipment of that air arm.

The Convair Model 106 Skycoach was an experimental four-seat light aircraft, designed and built by the Stinson Division of Convair at the end of World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stinson Model R</span> American single-engine high-winged monoplane (1932)

The Stinson Model R was an American light aircraft built by the Stinson Aircraft Company in the early 1930s. It was a single-engine high-winged monoplane, developed from the Stinson Junior. 39 units were built.

The Grob G 110 was a single-engined two-seat light aircraft, made mainly of glassfibre, that was designed and built by the German manufacturer Grob Aircraft in the early 1980s. Two prototypes were built, with the first example making its maiden flight on 6 February 1982, but development was abandoned after the first prototype crashed later that year.

The Aircorp B2-N Bushmaster is a prototype Australian light aircraft designed for aerobatic, touring, and utility use. It first flew in 1989 and did not enter production.

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 Yenne 1993, p. 117.
  2. "Drive Right Up", April 1946, Popular Science Ted Hall's original concept "roadable" airplane which was the starting point for the Model 116
  3. Wegg 1990, p. 184.
  4. "Aerocar." fiddlersgreen.net. Retrieved: May 23, 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 Wegg 1990, pp. 186–187.
  6. "Flying Auto Crashes; Lands in California Mud Flats – Pilot Is Only Bruised. The New York Times, November 19, 1947.
  7. "No. 2722. Convair 118 ConvairCar (NX90850)." Johan Visschedijk Collection, June 18, 2003. Retrieved: May 23, 2010.

Bibliography