Moulton Taylor

Moulton Taylor
Born 29 September 1912
Portland, Oregon
Died 16 November 1995 (1995-11-17) (aged 83)
Nationality American
Known for Flying car

Moulton B. "Molt" Taylor (September 29, 1912 – November 16, 1995) was an aeronautical engineer famed for his work on developing a practical flying car.

Life

Taylor was born in Portland, Oregon and studied engineering at the University of Washington. After graduation, he was accepted into the United States Navy as a pilot, but spent much of World War II working on the Navy's missile program, for which he was awarded the Legion of Merit medal. Shortly after the war, he designed his first flying car, the Aerocar, and founded a business, Aerocar International, in Longview, Washington to develop, manufacture, and market it. To date, it remains the closest that any such design came to actual mass production, but eventually only six were built.

Although Taylor continued to push for the viability of the flying car throughout the rest of his life, he also designed a number of only slightly more conventional designs for the homebuilt aircraft market, including the Taylor Coot amphibian and the Aerocar IMP family of sportsplane designs.

In a 1979 article about the future of flight past the year 2000, Taylor somewhat inaccurately predicted widespread use of flying autos and pusher configurations, however he did accurately predict the mainstream use of carbon materials for lightweight spars and wing ribs.[1]

Awards and honors

References

  1. ↑ Peter Lert (January 1979). "Designers talk about the future". Air Progress.
  2. ↑ "Franklin Laureate Database - Edward Longstreth Medal 1960 Laureates". Franklin Institute. Retrieved November 14, 2011.
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