The Car That Thinks It's a Plane... Or the Plane That Thinks It's a Car?

Despite some of the practical ideas behind them, your blogmeister considers 'flying cars' and  'roadable aircraft' and such to be little more than novelties, and admits that he generally doesn't pay much attention to them.

However, of all the different examples of this particular breed of wacky flying machine to have been produced over the years, one is worthy of mention in this-here cyber-rag... if only because of where it was built.

During the early to mid 1930s, a number of 'flying cars' had been developed, including the Gwinn Aircar. Designed by Joseph M. Gwinn Jr. of Buffalo, NY, two examples of the Aircar were manufactured during 1936 and 1937. Gwinn had been a pilot during the Great War and had formerly worked as an engineer for Consolidated Aircraft Corporation during its time in Buffalo.

Shu-Aero.com

The aircraft was conceived and designed with simplicity and ease of operation in mind, and featured flight controls similar to those of an automobile; steering wheel and foot pedals instead of a stick or yolk and throttle. This was apparently meant to lend an air of familiarity for the intended target market, consisting mainly of those who had only driven a car. By all accounts I've come across, the Aircar was a fairly pleasant handling little machine, was often referred to as 'foolproof', and had a reputation of being impossible to stall.

The type's future seemed to be somewhat promising.

Project 914 Archives

One well-known fella, and a later-well-known gal went to work for the Gwinn Aircar Company; Frank Hawks, famous air racer, and Nancy (Harkness) Love (of the WAFS and WASP during the Second world War), both seen here with one of the Aircars.

Davis-Monthan Aviation Field Register

Hawks was appointed VP of the company and became head salesman. Both he and Love flew as demonstration pilots on a marketing tour which began in 1937 and ended in tragedy during August of 1938.

In the early evening of Tuesday, August 23rd, 1938 Hawks had landed the second Aircar (NX16921, serial number 502) at the Edmund P. Rogers estate in the Town of Aurora, New York and offered to take Rogers and his guests up for rides. The first hop, at about 6:30PM, ended almost immediately; the little ship struck power lines on takeoff and came down, exploding into flames upon impact. Hawks and his passenger, J. Hazard Campbell, a locally prominant sportsman, survived the accident and were taken to Buffalo General Hospital, but both succumbed to their injuries and burns hours later.

 Buffalo Courier Express August 24th, 1938 (via Fulton History)

Buffalo Courier Express August 24th, 1938 (via Fulton History)

After the accident, Gwinn abandoned the project and took the sole remaining Aircar with him to San Diego where he rejoined Consolidated Aircraft, by then known as Convair. Development of the little ship continued post-war in the form of the significantly redesigned Convair Model 111. Not much came of it, however, and the aircraft was eventually scrapped.

 

San Diego Air and Space Museum Archves

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