autoevolution
 

Half Car, Half Airplane: The Arrowbile Flying Car Was Master of Neither

An entire century and more after the airplane and the automobile had their genesis, mankind has yet to merge the two paradigms into a package that was even remotely practical.
Waterman Arrowbile 6 photos
Photo: Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
Waterman ArrowbileWaterman ArrowbileWaterman ArrowbileWaterman ArrowbileWaterman Arrowbile
But that didn't stop people from trying, especially in the golden age of planes and cars. Say hello to the Waterman Arrowbile. The name rolls right off the tongue, doesn't it? All jokes aside, the Arrowobile was perhaps the closest engineers came in these early days to a plane/car hybrid that had any significant degree of functionality. Let's take a look at how it came into being.

Only five Arrowbiles were ever manufactured during the late 1930s, so calling it a success would be a bit of a stretch. But at the very least, its inventor is a certified member of the tortured genius engineers club, a century before Elon Musk made that moniker cool and hip.

Waldo Waterman's modus operandi was to take the burgeoning field of aviation so often the domain of wealthy aristocrats and gradually bring it to the masses. At a time before very advanced flight mechanics were fully understood, the best way to do this in Waterman's mind was to merge the worlds of airplanes and four-wheeled motor vehicles.

A fan of hang-gliding since boyhood Waterman's first aircraft was a biplane hang glider when he was still a high school student. A fact that becomes evident after one good look at the Arrobile. It's as of the small, metal fuselage was suspended from a trapeze harness under the roof-mounted wings instead of being physically attached.

Waterman Arrowbile
Photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons (fair use)
Waldo Waterman founded his self-named aviation company in 1935 with the goal of making a 100% street-legal version of a low-cost, high production capable light aircraft he'd devised during his time working as an engineer for the United States Army Air Corps. This aircraft was called the Waterman Arrowplane (clever name, we know.) This would form the basis for what would become the Arrowbile.

Powering this little nugget of curiosity initially was a 95 horsepower inverted inline 4-cylinder Menasco B-4 Pirate engine mounted at the rear of the aircraft in a pusher configuration. This was replaced later with a 100 horsepower Studebaker straight-six engine. Now how's that for a car/plane hybrid? Pretty neat if you ask us.

What was less neat was how flimsy and dangerous the Arrowbile appeared while in flight. The steering wheel inside the two-seater cabin takes care of the air and ground controls, and no separate system existed while in flight. Twin rudders, one on each wing, took care of the vehicle's yaw while tail-mounted ailerons (tailerons) controlled the pitch and roll. There were no conventional flaps or air brakes on the aircraft, but the relatively slow speeds achieved meant it wasn't a big deal.

Studebaker, who was keen on selling their gasoline engines to Waterman should the Arrobile see production, ordered a prototype run of five airframes. There were even whisperings that Studebaker one day wished to bring the Waterman company underneath their own corporate umbrella, although this has never been definitively proven.

Waterman Arrowbile
Photo: Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
But a lack of interest from the public, who still hadn't fully warmed up to the idea of personal civil aviation, doomed the project from then on. Upgrades on the airframe nonetheless continued, including fitting several different engine and drivetrain configurations to see if any of them became the ticket to success. Needless to say, none of them quite did the trick.

Waldo Waterman was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame in 1968 and died in December 1976. Only a single survivor of the Arrowbile exists today. A blue and white two-tone paint job variant is on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, an official annex of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia. Many thanks to the Smithsonian Institution for allowing us to bring you this quirky little curiosity. Check back for more right here on autoevolution.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)

Editor's note: Article contains self-taken photos used with the formally requested permission of the National Air & Space Museum.

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories