Last Chance to Buy the First Flying Car

Filed in archive As We See Things , Auctions , Aviation on March 14, 2010

Somehow this one escaped my notice, which is unfortunate if you'd like to own the "oldest original Flying Car." Unless, of course, you live in the Atlanta area where the Red Baron's gallery facility is located; 6450 Roswell Road is the address so you might still make it in time to bid on this extrordinary hybrid car/plane. Built in 1935, it was the brain-child of Frank Skroback, a retired industrial technician and electrician from Syracuse, New York. Frank studied the concepts of French furniture manufacturer turned aircraft designer Henri Mignet, who was responsible for the famous tandem wing monoplane.

Famous? Well, in spite of being a former private pilot with an interest in old aircraft, I'd never heard of Mignet until I checked with the Net. Wikipedia informs me that between 1931-33 Mignet designed and constructed the prototype HM-8... the first of his designs that really flew and became a great, if controversial, success in the aviation world. In 1934 Mignet published his plans in book form for an improved version of the HM-8 designated the HM-14, with the intention that it would be constructed by amateur-builders. Professional aircraft manufacturers were very reluctant to produce it and the subsequent accident record proved their decision correct. Mignet nevertheless encouraged amateur-builders to construct the HM-14, and carried on designing further models into the 1960s, most of them based on the HM-8 concept. One of his aircraft is on display at the Canadian Museum of Flight in Langley BC, about 60 crow-flight miles east of my home in Sidney (note: interrupted by a body of water that requires a 1.35 hour ferry ride to reach the mainland). Now that I'm aware of this, you can be sure the Museum is on my "to visit" list.

But I digress, for this post is about the Flying Car. Frank Skroback wanted to modify Mignet's design to build a vehicle that could be multi-purposed in order to be flown from house to house, using the roads as runways. His design consists of six fixed 7' wide wings, that could lift his 21' long tubular steel fuselage, with spruce wing panels wrapped in linen. It comes with the blueprints, a 1921 patent, and documents charting inventor Skroback's creation. Unfortunately nobody has been able to find proof of Skroback's vehicle ever taking flight. Frankly, I doubt that it did as the rudder-like appendages on the rear wings hardly look big enough to provide any sort of directional stability. Maneuverability on the road doesn't appear too promising, either.

The concept of a car that flies has long fascinated designers and dreamers and a few succeeded, though not in the marketplace. The conflicting needs of flight and ground control are an obstacle difficult to overcome, to say nothing of automobile crash safety regulations. Nevertheless this hybrid concept would be worth owning with the same philosophy as a Leonardo da Vinci sketch of a flying machine would be. After all, who knows what dreams might fly in the future?