ALL SCI-FI

[bulldogtrekker]

Barely getting off the ground — the story of the RoadAir





Like many dreamers, Herbert Trautman did his best to make that dream a reality, and he got further than most. An aviation enthusiast, inventor and employee of Douglas Aircraft, Herb was the originator of a design patent on a "Combination Automobile and Airplane" (U.S. Design Patent No. D177445, issued 1956).

Unlike many flying car concepts over the years, Trautman's design didn't share much in common with a conventional airplane or with a conventional automobile. With a design that could perhaps be called a partial "flying wing", his inspiration may have come from the XB-35 experimental flying-wing bomber, which also featured a "pusher" propeller arrangement.

Of course, a full "flying wing" design would be far too wide for automotive applications, so Trautman cleverly packaged the wings such that they could be folded away for storage while driving, and folded out when it was time to fly.





Amazingly, Trautman not only received a design patent, but by 1959, actually built a full-scale, 25-foot wingspan prototype, which he called the "RoadAir". The RoadAir differed from the initial patent drawings in a few ways. A fourth wheel was added in front, presumably for extra stability when driving. The V-type stabilizers were replaced by a more conventional pair of uprights, joined by a horizontal stabilizer. Power came from a flat-four air-cooled Continental O-190 engine, putting out 85 horsepower, which drove both the propeller and the rear single wheel. Pedals in the cockpit controlled not only the rudders when airborne, but also the pair of wheels under the passenger compartment when driving. Herb hoped to sell the RoadAir for $10,000.



Unfortunately, the RoadAir was a bit heavy at approximately 1,000 pounds, and perhaps the diminutive fold-away wings didn't create quite enough lift. As the story goes, one day Trautman lifted the front-opening hatch and stepped into his creation for some tests on a California runway. After getting comfortable with the vehicle, he got it up to a speed of about 90 miles per hour and, as the poem goes, "slipped the surly bonds of earth". Then he got wise. Apparently, Trautman had got about three feet off the ground, but felt himself losing control. He put the RoadAir down safely and immediately put it into storage, and the prototype vehicle never flew again.

As incredible as that story is, more amazing is that the RoadAir survives to this day. In the 1980s, the RoadAir was on display at Orange County Airport, on loan to the Tallmantz Collection, an aviation museum founded by two Hollywood stunt pilots. When the Tallmantz Collection was purchased by noted aerobatics pilot and collector Kermit Weeks in 1985, an elderly Mr. Trautman decided to sell his project for an undisclosed sum. It was later restored, and is now both roadworthy and probably about as airworthy as it ever was. Until recently, the RoadAir was displayed in the Fantasy of Flight museum in Florida, but will soon be coming home to California to be exhibited at the Museum of Flying in Santa Monica. -

Link to full story:
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2015/02/13/wheel-stories-from-the-patent-files-barely-getting-off-the-ground-the-story-of-the-roadair/?refer=news

[Bud Brewster]

You gotta admit, she's a beauty!





* Why does the propeller look like it would hit the vertical stabilizer on the right side?
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

[Bud Brewster]

[orzel-w]

[Bud Brewster]

[orzel-w]

[Bud Brewster]

[orzel-w]

Okay, let's just go with the lopsided propeller, then.
_________________
...or not...

WayneO
-----------

[Bud Brewster]

I'm aware that the photo just makes is look like propeller is longer on the right, I just don't think either of us has figured out why yet. It's quite an intriguing optical illusion, even better that these -- because it's not created by any artist!










I couldn't figure out what the optical illusion was in the bottom-right picture, so I read about it on the website. The lighter on the right is a picture on the paper -- not a real one like the one on the left.

But I still like the Mystery of the Asymmetrical Propeller the best. It defies logical analysis.






_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

Here's something else that your latest diagrams suggest. The point where the starboard fin meets the fuselage is visible. But the point where the port fin meets the fuselage is hidden by the bulge of the fuselage, although this is not initially obvious. Our eyes want to make the fins symmetrical, so it comes out throwing off our perspective.

I think maybe also the underside of the fuselage─or rather the dividing line between the red and the dark blue─is not parallel to the floor. The nose seems to be sitting higher than the tail. This may add another source of optical confusion into perceiving how angled the fronts of the fins are in that view that's causing the illusion.
_________________
...or not...

WayneO
-----------

[Bud Brewster]

Well, I'm disappointed. Turns out its no optical illusion at all. The picture shot from the front just didn't indicate how far forward the propeller was in relation to the stabilizers. The part of that stabilizer that seems to be under the propeller is well behind it.




I should have realized this from the photo that looks down on it, but it just didn't click for some reason -- for any of us apparently, because Wayne could have said, "Bud, look at the other picture. The propeller is almost in front of the stabilizers."

That would have settled the matter quicker than teasing me with suggestions that the mind thinks it sees horizontal leading edges that aren't horizontal, etc. etc. etc.

Note to Wayne: I'm actually glad you didn't set me straight the quick and easy way. I enjoy puzzles, even when they turn out not to be real -- like that cyclorama I was so damn sure existed.

But I did have fun cleaning up that picture which started this fun discussion. The enlarged crops below show lots of blemishes in the fuselage. When I zoomed in on them they actually looked like the results I got with MS Paint when I created the illustrations for The Wishbone Express -- so much so in fact that for a while I was convinced the whole picture was a heavily modified photo, and the right side of the car/plane was not correctly proportioned!

If that were true, it would explain why the propeller seems to be right over right stabilizer, blocking the propeller from turning.

It would also explain a few other odd things, like why the right-front wheel is visible at the edge of the fuselage in this picture --



-- but it's much closer to the middle in the one that's been the focus of our debate.



Strange, ain't it? Yep, I think so, too.

So, before I came to my sense about 2:00am last night and realized I was starting to act like a conspiracy theorist ("Somebody is deceiving us with this fake picture -- and I have proof!") I went to work on the picture above to fix both the spotty appearance of the fuselage and to put that damned stabilizer where I thought it belonged!

Behold! The entire right half of the car is wider and the stabilizer has been moved over even more than the widening caused it to. I offer this just for your amusement, folks, not as a picture of what the car "really" looks like.





But even with my modifications, the right-front wheel still seems to be too close to the middle!

Apparently the weirdness isn't quite over yet . . .

____________Before (original photo)___________________After (my modified version)

_
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

[Bud Brewster]

Hey, put down the gun and step back, sir! We can talk this out!

Let's start with what that panel below the prop is doing there in this picture. Am I wrong in thinking there's not enough room for the prop to turn?



The drawing of the craft shown in the first post of this thread shows that area as concave. I can't find a single picture of Roadair from the back! And in every single picture we have seen of it, the prop is always aligined horizontally, never vertically or diagonally.

By God, I smell a cover up! My conspiracy theories are resurfacing!

Help me, Obi Wan Orlicki! You're my only hope!
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

Calm down, Bud! Get hold of yourself! Take two of these and call me in the morning:






That first one shows not only a view from behind, but a photo with the prop spinning. Wood props are traditionally left standing horizontal to prevent moisture from accumulating in the lower blade, resulting in an out-of-balance prop.

Hey! Where'd BDT go?
_________________
...or not...

WayneO
-----------