HISTORY
Waldo
Dean Waterman
(June 16, 1894 – December 8, 1976)
was an inventor and aviation pioneer
from San Diego, California. His most
notable contributions to aviation
were the first tailless monoplane
(the precursor to the flying wing),
the first aircraft with modern
tricycle landing gear and the first
successful low cost and simple to
fly a flying car which in the 1930s
were commonly called
Flivver
Aircraft.
Waterman built his first
aircraft, a biplane hang
glider, in 1909 while still
in high school. He
successfully flew the
biplane hang glider on a
slope near his home and by
auto-tow. He then took on a
partner to help build a
powered aircraft that he
entered in the first
Dominguez Air Meet in
January 1910. The aircraft
was not completed in time
for the meet. However, he
began testing the aircraft
on North Island. It was
under-powered and required
an auto-tow assist to get
airborne. He flew the
aircraft with some success
but crashed, breaking both
ankles.
In
1911, Glenn Curtiss moved
his winter headquarters to
North Island and Waterman
attached himself to the
Curtiss camp. In early 1912,
the US Navy moved its three
aircraft to Curtiss' testing
station. By this time
Waterman was a fixture at
the station and was a
frequent ride-along.
In
1912, Waterman entered the
University of California as
a student of mechanical
engineering. When World War
I broke out, and after being
rejected from military
service because of his
broken ankles and flat feet,
he became head of the
Department of Theory of
Flight, School of Military
Aeronautics at the
University of California.
Later he became Chief
Engineer at the U.S.
Aircraft Corporation and
remained to liquidate the
company at the end of the
war. With some assets
purchased from the U.S.
Aircraft Corporation,
Waterman moved to Santa
Monica, where he established
the Waterman Aircraft
Manufacturing Company.
However, he was forced out
of business when the U.S.
Army began dumping
war-surplus aircraft on the
civilian market for a tiny
fraction of what Waterman
could sell his custom
aircraft for.
In 1929, Waterman built his
first tailless monoplane,
the Whatsit, which also used
the then unusual tricycle
landing gear. Some consider
the Whatsit to be the first
monoplane flying wing,
but J. W. Dunne had built
something along the same
lines as early as the summer
of 1911 in England. The
Whatsit was certainly a step
in that direction, though it
had a truncated fuselage and
a forward trim plane. A
development of the Whatsit
was the high-wing
Waterman Arrowplane.
As well as the Whatsit, in
1930 Waterman produced
another innovative design
with a low-wing monoplane
that could change the
dihedral of its wings during
flight for shorter takeoffs,
increased flight speed, and
slower landing speeds
according to the designer in
its debut at the National
Air races in Chicago. In
addition to the wing design,
he also placed the landing
gears not under the fuselage
but outwards under the
wings.
At North Island, while
experimenting with the
Navy's flying boats, Glenn
Curtiss is known to have
talked about the possibility
of a flying car. In 1917 He
built a flying car he called
the Autoplane. The Autoplane
never flew, but was
exhibited at the
Pan-American Aeronautic
Exposition in New York
City's Grand Central Palace.
Waterman was certainly
inspired by Curtiss and 20
years later made one of the
first successful flying
cars. The Waterman Arrowbile
was based on the Arrowplane.
It was a high-wing
monoplane, with detachable
wings and was powered by a
Studebaker engine. Five
Arrowbiles were built. Three
Arrowbiles attempted a
flight from Santa Monica to
Cleveland but one had to
turn back after only
reaching Arizona. The other
two finished the flight.
Arrowbile No. 6 (No. 5 was
never completed),
rechristened the Aerobile is
on display at the Steven F.
Udvar-Hazy Center
(Smithsonian Air and Space
museum extension in Dulles,
Virginia).
In the 1960s, Waterman built
and flew his last aircraft.
The Early Bird was based on
the original Curtiss Pusher.
The Chevybird was a similar
monoplane powered by a
Corvair engine. In the early
1970s, Waterman directed the
construction of a replica of
his biplane hang glider,
built in his youth. This was
done in conjunction with
Michael Riggs of Seagull
Aircraft, based in a one of
Waterman's Santa Monica
buildings. Waterman gave Joe
Faust of the Self-Soar
Association $100 to support
its
Low & Slow
periodical, in which notes
about Waldo Waterman's final
aircraft construction
project appeared.
Source:
Wikipedia
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