新编英语教程 3 Unit 6 拓展知识.docVIP

Unit 6 Atomic Cars Supplimentary reading Flying car Early experiments Glenn Curtiss, the Wrights chief rival, was the first to design a flying car. The first flying car to actually fly was built by Waterman. Waterman became associated with Curtiss while Curtiss was pioneering naval aviation at North Island on San Diego Bay in the 1910s. However, it wasnt until March 21, 1937 that Watermans Aerobile first took to the air. The Aerobile was a development of Watermans tailless aircraft, the Whatsit. It had a wingspan of 38 feet (11?m) and a length of 20 feet 6 inches (6.25?m). On the ground and in the air it was powered by a Studebaker engine. It could fly at 112 mph (180?km/h) and drive at 56 mph (90?km/h). In 1926, Henry Ford displayed an experimental single-seat aeroplane that he called the sky flivver. The project was abandoned two years later when a test flight crashed, killing the pilot.[2]Post-war development Artists impression of flying car, on the Feb 1951 cover of Popular Mechanics In the 1950s, the western world was recovering from World War II and everything seemed possible. The flying car was a vision of transportation in the 21st century, and a common feature of science fiction futures. Several designs (such as the Convair flying car and Molt Taylors Aircar) have flown, none have enjoyed commercial success and those that have flown are not widely known about by the general public. One notable design, Henry Smolinskis Mizar, made by mating the rear end of a Cessna Skymaster with a Ford Pinto, disintegrated during test flights, killing Smolinski and the pilot. In the 1950s, Ford Motor Company performed a serious feasibility study for a flying car product. They concluded that such a product was technically feasible, economically manufacturable, and had significant realistic markets. The markets explored included ambulance services, police and emergency services, military uses, and initially, luxury transportation. Some of these markets are now served