It wasn’t very long after the first commercially viable automobiles came on the scene that ambitious engineers began to dream of vehicles that could travel not only on land but also in the air, or by water. For a century, talented designers have created unique dual purpose vehicles for land, water and air (in various pairings) for both civil and military applications. Sometimes converted from standard vehicles, sometimes beginning as clean-sheet designs, these machines have met the engineering and economic challenges of dual-mode travel with varying degrees of success. This book describes a fascinating array of these vehicles from the United States and abroad, including flying automobiles, roadable aircraft, amphibious vehicles, hovercraft, road-rail trains, and triphibious inventions.

A World War II veteran of the Army Air Corps, the late George W. Green was a retired automotive industry executive and university instructor as well as a transportation historian, lecturer and freelance photo journalist. He lived in Illinois.

George W. Green
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 240
Bibliographic Info: 160 photos, glossary, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2010
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4556-1
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0256-1
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments      ix

Introduction      1

I. Road- Air Vehicles      3

II. Amphibious Vehicles      129

III. Road- Rail Vehicles      182

IV. Water- Air Vehicles      189

V. Other Dual Vehicles      199

VI. Triphibious Vehicles      202

Glossary      213

Bibliography      217

Index      223

“interesting…heavily illustrated”—Choice; “magnificent…a remarkable book…enjoyable reading”—Johan Visschedijk, 100aircraftphotos.com.