1:95). Canon Desforges built a winged vehicle that he called a voiture volante, or flying carriage (11:95).
Obviously, it wasn't until the birth of modern aviation that the dream of a flying car had any chance of becoming a reality. Such a vehicle, of course, would seem to be the ideal mode of transportation for the modern world (11:96). It provides both ground transportion and a way of leapfrogging over earthbound traffic congestion at once (11:96).
That dual capability though, is the root of the flying car's problem (11:96). The vehicle itself is a compromise in a technological realm fraught with compromises. It is unable to perform on a par with either a car or an airplane (11:96). The better a flying car performs as a car, the worse it performs as an airplane, and vice versa (11:96).
In fact, the term "flying car" is noticeably absent from most listings of different types of aircraft (11:96). During the first half of the century there were about twenty people who designed and actually built prototypes of roadable airplanes, or flying cars (11:96). Since then, another half dozen or so have also gotten seriously involved in that goal (11:96).
Among the first vehicles to combine flying with driving were the 1917 Curtiss Autoplane/Autolandplane, the 1921 Tampier Biplane, and the 1935 Pitcairn AC 35 Roadable Autogiro (11:96). Though the first two were not entirely successful, the Pitcairn showed that it was possible to land in a restricted area and then taxi to a nearby destination over roads normally reserved for automobiles (11:96). The AC 35's cruising speed was 120 mph and it could chug along the ground at about 25 mph (11:99).
It wasn't until years later that something approaching a true flying car a vehicle that could function as well on roadways as it did in the air was created (11:99). Between 1930 and the 1960s, about fifteen true flying cars were developed (11:99). Of these fifteen, how...