Curtiss-Wright "Bee" 2-Passenger Air Car (Circa 1960)

I found this old-time "futuristic looking" postcard for sale on the internet featuring a Curtiss-Wright "Bee" 2-Passenger Air Car:





Although concept cars are all the rage at auto shows, this one looks as if it came out a James Bond movie or was the precursor to a Hovercraft. It appeared especially futuristic for the period (circa 1960). Although it never made it into production, a fascinating story about it was published earlier this year in Road & Track magazine:

http://www.roadandtrack.com/feature...ght-air-cars

"The controls are simple..."

We don't need no stinkin' brakes.

Hard left turn? Reach out of the vehicle and grab something on the left. Right turn? Bring a passenger along.

They built a working prototype in South Bend in 1960 but it looked nothing like the post card. It is basically a big, ugly hoover craft with auto-type features.
Don

If the answer is 'gimbals', what was your question?

The Russian MiGs flying during the early years of The American War (as it is now known in-theater) were equipped with thrust gimbals, as were ~all of the big space launch vehicles.

When the Americans added gimbals to their Sidewinder missiles, the Russian MiGs lost their turning radius advantage, and that pretty much resolved the air-to-air combat issue for the next 40 years ... and counting.

Gimbaled thrust (okay, LOTS of gimbaled thrust) would allow you to replicate the turning behavior of a typical passenger car; the control electronics of the time were adequate to the task, too.

Still, you put it well, DD.

One wonders, however, about energy budgeting, the effect on pedestrians of hard turning & hard braking in city traffic, etc.

So, let's say that it would work, but you would not want to be around when it did ;)

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey