An inflatable airplane may sound like a good idea at first. It may even sound brilliant, so long as whoever is pitching it to you points out how helpful it would be to be able to drop them to soldiers. The soldiers could then grab the lightweight packages, pump them up and fly away to safety.
…never mind the fact these planes could probably pop if a bird in the sky looked at them the wrong way. If you think of it, the idea probably got shot down faster than an inflatable airplane. Some prototypes were made, but they were never used in battle.
The Goodyear Inflatoplane (not inflated).
Almost there.
After being designed and built in less than 12 weeks, the Inflatoplane was tested in Akron, Ohio.
The initial test resulted in a fatality, but the Inflatoplane idea was not abandoned.
In total, 12 were made.
The first Inflatoplane was built in 1956 and the last in 1963.
One has to wonder what took them so long.
Could you imagine yourself sitting in that cockpit?
Me either.
Goodyear donated two of the remaining planes to the Franklin Institute and Smithsonian Museum.
Because with an idea like this one, you have to see it to believe it.
Yikes.
(via Piximus)
Apparently, no one thought about how bullets and balloons generally don’t mix.
