A flying car or roadable aircraft is a type of vehicle that can function as both a personal car and an aircraft. The term "flying car" is also sometimes used to include hovercars.
Many prototypes have been built since the early 20th century, using a variety of flight technologies. Although VTOL projects are increasing, most have been designed to take off and land conventionally using a runway. None has yet been built in more than a handful of numbers.
Flying cars are also a popular theme in fantasy and science fiction stories. Futurologists often predict their appearance, and many concept designs have been promoted. But their failure to become a practical reality has led to the catchphrase "Where's my flying car?" as a paradigm for the failure of predicted technologies to appear. For the sake of this article, Story Cars will cover the flying concepts, projects, and prototypes of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Part 1 of 3 includes every pre-1950 flying car known to the internet and eBooks. Comment below if any are missing from the archive.
Part 1
1917 Curtiss Autoplane
1921 Tampier Autoplane
1925 Skroback Roadable Airplane
1935 Autogiro Company of America AC-35
1935 Waterman Arrowbile
1935 Vlachos Triphibian
1939 Southernaire Roadable Flying Car
1940 Jess Dixon’s Flying Automobile
1942 Hafner Rotabuggy
1944 Airmaster Autoplane Flying Car
1945 Norman Bel Geddes Flying Car Model
1946 Fulton Airphibian Autoplane
1946 Convair Flying Car
1946 Aerauto PL.5C Autoplane
1949 Aerocar I N4994P
Part 2
Part 3
1917 Curtiss Autoplane
The Curtiss Autoplane, invented by Glenn Curtiss in 1917, is widely considered the first attempt to build a roadable aircraft. Although the vehicle was capable of lifting off the ground, it never achieved full flight. The Autoplane was a triplane, using the wings from a Curtiss Model L trainer, with a small foreplane mounted on the aircraft's nose. The Autoplane's aluminum body resembled a Model T and had three seats in an enclosed cabin, with the pilot/chauffeur sitting in the front seat and the two passengers side-by-side to the rear. It used a four-blade pusher propeller and a twin-boom tail. A 100 horsepower (75 kW) Curtiss OXX engine drove the propeller via shaft and belts. The aircraft had a four-wheel undercarriage, with the front two wheels being steerable. The wings and tail could be detached for use as an automobile. It was shown at the Pan-American Aeronautic Exposition in New York City in February 1917. It made a few short hops before the entry of the United States into World War I in April 1917 ended the development of the Autoplane.
1921 Tampier Autoplane
In France, René Tampier unveiled an airplane-motor car prototype that impressed the crowds. While driving on the road, imagine the field of vision as the aircraft's tail obstructed it! To prepare the flying machine for road use, the pilot had to turn to face the other direction and fold down the wings. This prototype was the only unit ever built, and it ended up in a museum following reliability issues.
1925 Skroback Roadable Airplane

The Skroback Roadable Airplane was an early attempt to produce a roadable airplane. To keep the aircraft within a reasonable width for driving with fixed wings, the inventor used many wing surfaces along the length of the vehicle. Frank E. Skroback was an inventor with several patents. His concept of a roadable started with sketches in 1927. The vehicle was inspired by the French designs of Henri Mignet and his Flying Flea. The prototype was completed in 1934.
The finished prototype used three pairs of short seven-foot span biplane wings positioned at the vehicle's front, middle, and rear. A small set of rudders on the rear wing assembly could be operated differentially to provide yaw and roll in flight. The vehicle was powered by a tractor configuration Continental A-40 engine driving a propeller. The "body" or fuselage, used spruce stringers, was fabric covered and resembled a dirigible shape. The wheels were positioned in the conventional taildragger configuration.
Initial tests in 1945 proved the vehicle lacked rudder authority on the ground. It was placed in storage, and then work commenced again in 1957. The vehicle was road driven in Syracuse, New York, and Maine. The Willowbrook Village Museum in Newfield, Maine, had the vehicle in its collection but later considered it out of the museum's scope. It was offered by auction in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2010, with a sale price of $66,175.
1935 Autogiro Company of America AC-35
The Autogiro Company of America AC-35 was an early attempt to make a roadable aircraft in the United States during the 1930s. Although it was successfully tested, it did not enter production; a 1960s attempt to revive the aircraft in a non-roadable version failed to succeed.
The aircraft design process started in 1935. The Experimental Development Section of the Bureau of Air Commerce contracted a roadable aircraft based around a PA-22 autogyro from ACA's parent company, Pitca