Flying Automobile NX59711 (1946)

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From Popular Science March 1946 http://bit.ly/SACAerocar

"Drive Right Up

A flying automobile with a 130-hp. Franklin engine cruises at 110 m.p.h, in the air and travels 60 m.p.h, on the road. Those speeds were set by the first model of a design by Ted Hall, aviation engineer. Portable Products Corp., Garland, Tex., is considering the possibilities of producing it.

The "roadable" plane has detachable propeller, wing, booms, and tail. The forward end of the engine crankshaft turns the prop, while a shaft extends aft from the engine into a conventional automobile transmission and differential. Power goes both to propeller and rear wheels for the take-off.

The Flying Car, seen around the Southern Aircraft Plant in Garland immediately after WWII, was a prototype called the Southern Roadable. With attached wings, tail and propeller, the 1800-pound vehicle could fly at up to 128 mph. The rudder control activated its clutch and brakes for highway driving, SAC was unable to meet development schedules, and the unit was returned to its designer in California."

via http://aerofiles.com

1940: Southern Aircraft Div, Portable Products Corp (pres: Willis C Brown), Garland and Greenville TX; 1947: Houston TX.

Aerocar 1946 = 2pChwM; 130hp Franklin 6AC; span: 30'0" v (est): 128/x/x range (est): 310. Ted Hall. Roadable with demountable wing and twin-boom, twin-tail unit, a development by Hall of his twin-boom auto-plane concepts. It is uncertain if this was ever specifically produced under the Southern banner, or if it was one of Hall's projects in the works, as it was first flown at San Diego CA in 1939. POP: 1 [NX59711], made several test flights, but proved to be underpowered and the project was abandoned in the post-war slump.