Curtiss-Wright Model 2500 Air Car: The Machine That Whispered Between Earth and Sky

[@calvinskithepolishamerican7524]

Something like this should be in the next Fallout as a drivable vehicle

[@The_DC_Kid]

Hello, Wanderer. I'm The DC Kid/The Mojave Kid/Major Red Slaughter. Dog's name is Roscoe.

[@stejer211]

Now THIS is a well researched topic! Most of the images and video I had never seen before, thank you.

[@RReese08]

It’s more than sixty years since the Curtis-Wright Aircar and STILL NO FLYING CARS! I mean, there are a couple that are supposed to be close to, or starting production, but it’s not the same. Sometimes the future filled with so much promise turns out to be a disappointment instead. Thanks Retro, you tried your best.

[@fmac6441]

Not true, is a hovercraft. We have several hovercrafts both in civilian and militar operations, they are a bad substitute for a car.

[@WildWildWeasel]

people can barely drive a regular car, it's best we don't get any flying ones because there's too many room temp IQ drivers out there.

[@The_DC_Kid]

We have the tech to make flying cars but the hangup is that HUMANS would be flying them all over the sky anywhere they wanted, and the result of crashing mid-air is FAR worse than with cars on the ground. Insted, they would need to be controlled by computer systems programmed to take the vehicles and passengers from one point to another without anyone at the "wheel". To make them feasible for parking at one's home they'll have to be like drones so they can take off and land vertically. But it CAN be done (someday).

[@lordgarion514]

There have been flying cars since the 1950's. With a new one made basically every decade. It's not the technology. It's the cost and total lack of practicality. If the gas tank is bigger than 5 gallons, you have to have a pilots license to even fly it. Having to keep a car plane in airworthy condition at all times we, with all the crap roads we have, would be an expensive nightmare of maintenance. Which is already expensive.

[@fillhixx]

Hey! Hey! Hey now! The future isn't here yet, is it? So...there's still time. (Jeez. Some folks are SO impatient.)

[@asteverino8569]

What a tank. Love it ❤

[@mitchmegaw7201]

What a glorious slab of cool!

[@The_DC_Kid]

Looks like something Roger Rabbit would drive in Toon Town.

[@SHAGG13]

​@@The_DC_Kidlooks like a corvair and a nash metro had a fever LSD dream baby.

[@dad_jokes_4ever226]

Well done on consistently finding out about such obscure cars .... this is another one I've never heard of👌

[@LoserHouse]

good, nice job.

[@androidtexts6948]

Luke Skywalker has one!

[@dr.feelicks2051]

“Ever since the xp38 came out they just aren’t in demand”

[@androidtexts6948]

@dr.feelicks2051 🤣🤣

[@stephenmeier4658]

(Slaps Hood) "You can target so many Womp Rats in this baby"

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

I visited the Army Museum -- at Fort Eustis in S.E. Virginia, USA -- back around 2010, and this vehicle was on display there at the time.

[@jayski9410]

I have flown hovercraft and it's not for the faint of heart. As soon as you come up on the air cushion, you immediately start sliding down hill (what ever direction that is). And most land is not flat. Roads are crowned in the center so you tend to slide towards the curb. Parking lots are pitched in several directions to allow for drainage. That's why you mostly see hove craft over water, at least it's flat. But there is the constant problem of water spraying out from under it and into the cockpit. Then there is that fact that there are no brakes. You stop by venting the air from underneath and coasting to a stop. Not very precise or immediate. And steering is more like driving a car on ice. You turn the vehicle but your direction of travel doesn't change until your forward thrust overcomes your sideways momentum. This is why they've never been successful in the mass market. They're good for some special situations like swampy, deep mud, bogs or over very thin ice, or amphibious assault, where they can take you right up onto the beach and not drop you in the water. But that's about it.

[@vanjapuskaric9860]

I wonder what the planet would look like if we started with this concept instead of common cars. Nice video ! 

[@racketman2u]

probably like a very big game of air hockey.

[@modelermark172]

Until now, I had only seen drawings of this, and had no idea it was called the Curtiss-Wright Model 2500 Air Car, much less that this was actually made in prototype form. I'm more familiar with the similar Piasecki VZ-8 Airgeep, (which is shown here in passing at 3:04 and 3:19 at the back left.) Though I couldn't find any models of the Curtiss-Wright Model 2500, Glencoe Models offers a reissue of the old ITC kit of the Piasecki VZ-8 Airgeep in 1/35th scale, and I think there is a 1/72nd scale kit from Anagrad, as well. Maybe you could do a follow-up video on the Piasecki VZ-8 Airgeep. Thanks for sharing this with us! 83rd Like.

[@retrocarchannel]

Interesting machine “Piasecki VZ-8 Airgeep”, I'm not sure if this machine fits the theme of the site. I'm thinking about making a video about it on the second channel. I'll think about it.

[@BobAbc0815]

This is not the Vehicle you are looking for.

[@PRH123]

Seems that only 8 people understand your joke :) good one!

[@BobAbc0815]

@PRH123 eight? and i thought there would be only two😂

[@jontrammel5055]

R2 D2​@@BobAbc0815

[@brettknoss486]

The UK was big on hovercraft in the 80s, but they seem to be less fashionable, except some military uses

[@jeffbrinkerhoff5121]

Cool stuff Alexander Lippisch also designed a series of wingless jet powered transport vehicles from sport personal to buses to rescue craft to intercontinental bombers.

[@larryfromwisconsin9970]

I remember seeing President Eisenhower on TV riding in this.

[@logicn.reasoning9744]

Great job, chat gpt!!

[@kalvinravn8431]

Would love to fly over roads that are snow covered and ice!

[@leonb2637]

Curtiss-Wright was facing a serious problem in the late 1950's as the demand for piston aircraft engines was sharply declining as commercial and military aircraft were quickly going to jets. This was an attempt to find new revenues, especially from the US military.

[@willparry]

I like it.

[@mikecarbone828]

This concept could now potentially make a comeback in an electric form, which could help make it a more practical vehicle, but could also make it more useful, as well.

[@jeffarmstrong1308]

As soon as you 2 x 180hp engines I was wondering about the noise of the thing. It would hardly have been a stealth vehicle! Hovercraft will probably remain an interesting sidebar to transportation. Their lack of hill climbing ability and inability ability to cope with uneven surfaces always limited their utility. They always have some uses - air cushions remain the best way to move large heavy items around warehouses, etc but will probably never achieve general use.

[@b_ks]

1,000 lb. payload? Could I get this in the half-ton pickup model, please?

[@olsonspeed]

Unfortunately, Jetson style Flying Cars aren't going to be reality until gravity is negated.

[@johnnyfreedom3437]

The first generation flying car! Too bad it took another 60 years before they got a viable one operational! I love the little hovercrafts that are available today, if I had a quarter million dollars!

[@stefanpaege2046]

How do the brakes work on it? How it operates on snow? And BTW: It would clean the streets of dust, sand & small debris… Oh wait, in this respect it would be as annoying as any leaf blower & it would be a nuisance to pedestrians. Imagine a small dog crossing its way 😎😎😎

[@allangibson8494]

The problem with hovercraft don’t have brakes… They need to use thrust to change direction and stop.

[@bnuttsgee]

We would sneak into the Curtiss Wright property in NJ and hang out on one .Sadly it was left outside to rot .

[@bcsadman]

Now I know where Ford designers got their idea for the Edsel…

[@davidbarnsley8486]

There is another one I’ve seen it on you toob and I think it’s the original one as it was a light color Sat behind a shed , I just don’t remember who’s channel it was on

[@jourwalis-8875]

How can you brake or stop such a car in an emergency?

[@The_DC_Kid]

No.

[@Gay_Priest]

That's the fun part, you don't

[@tonywright8294]

Turn the engine off .

[@stevencorrea8032]

Parachute

[@williamstone4334]

And the stopping distance .........

[@therealpatriarchy]

A gleaming alloy air car.

[@NonScents]

.....its just a hovercraft.....

[@zhenjiu]

Anyone notice Hovercraft tech here?

[@joejoejoejoejoejoe4391]

A troop carrier, that can only carry two troops, and needs two aircraft engines, and can only go on flat, level surfaces.....

[@allangibson8494]

Over mine fields…

[@The_DC_Kid]

Air intakes are positioned perfectly to suck in enough water to immediately sink it.

[@allangibson8494]

@ The air intakes are on the TOP. It’s a hovercraft - it flies on an air cushion.

[@Traderjoe]

There was a large percentage of this video that I was convinced was pure baloney until more than 3/4s the way through. I am kind of stunned

[@jumbowana]

I mean yeah, it's neat. But who the hell thought that would work for the military?

[@stevencorrea8032]

Look like the car off of Star Wars if they would have kept developing this they could have used it hurricane Helena Katrina Milton and so and so

[@Slazlo-Brovnik]

So basically a hovercraft

[@joeculver7489]

It looks like the Jag 00....

[@walkertongdee]

Well, I made a hovercraft that had 18 hp. and went 40 mph. far better...

[@OnlyTheEd]

1,000 pounds? Where would they put 1,000 pounds? on the roof?🤨

[@surfmarine3118]

Maybe the pilot and copilot could each weigh up to 500 pounds?

[@joelindien8945]

Consommation ?

[@LoserHouse]

'the military designated the air-car,' crap.