Inflatoplane

[eddvick]

Here's a very cool inflatable airplane from Goodyear that was marketed to the air force as a 'plane in a box' that could be dropped to downed pilots or carried easily by a jeep. Sadly, it was vulnerable to arrows...

Click to view

Comments

[bedii]

Not as vulnerable as you might think--some of the test models were flown with bullet holes for extended periods to verify that they could withstand small-arms fire. The main problem was the design of the plane--not as stable as the Reluctant Phoenix http://www.humanpoweredflying.propdesigner.co.uk/html/reluctanflights.html or Frederick To's later Phoenix http://www.humanpoweredflying.propdesigner.co.uk/html/phoenixthe_gossamers_and_other_planes.html (which I wish I could afford to duplicate since it was a simple, low-cost design and I have his papers on wing construction), but a lot faster. An Inflatoplane pilot was killed in a freak accident during testing and since you could get a chopper in faster than you could get the plane dropped in a canister and inflated the project was killed. The basic

[eddvick]

I figured you would know all about this plane. One cool wrinkle was that the engine could direct air into its frame to keep it inflated.