This video was made possible by CuriosityStream.
Watch thousands of high-quality documentaries and get access to my streaming service, Nebula,
using the link in the description.
In 1956, one company set out to redefine what the air in the airplane really meant.
Goodyear, known for their iconic blimps and car tires, developed an inflatable airplane.
One that was small enough to fit inside the back of the family station wagon and could
be ready to fly to just five minutes.
They called it the Inflatoplane and by all accounts, it actually flew pretty well.
Well enough that the military even considered using them to rescue downed pilots, by air
dropping Inflatoplanes behind enemy lines so stranded pilots could fly themselves back
to safety.
The idea of an inflatable airplane began as a way to make aircraft safer.
In 1931, an American inventor by the name of Taylor McDaniel set out to prove that he
could build a plane that was more or less crash proof.
Built almost entirely out of rubber, McDaneil s glider could hit the ground at high speed
without disintegrating on impact.
Leaving the plane and it s pilot relatively unharmed.
McDaneil was convinced that inflatable planes were the future.
But he ran out of money before he could fully develop the concept
Next to experiment were engineers in the Soviet Union with an idea to use inflatable planes
as a way to move supplies across the country.
A larger tow plane would be used to pull multiple inflatable gliders loaded with cargo which
could then be cut loose to land at their destination.
It promised to be a cheaper way to airlift supplies.
But little is known about the final outcome of the project
Two decades later, the British also experimented with inflatable aircraft.
This time building a reconnaissance plane that could be packed up inside a submarine
or in a tank.
Nicknamed the flying mattresses, the awkward looking aircraft was shown off at airshows
but never made it into production.
All of these designs worked, but not very well.
The problem was, inflated rubber made for planes that were just too slow and structurally
unstable.
What was needed was a better material.
In the 1950 s, engineers at Goodyear developed a new kind of composite.
A layer of rubber sandwiched between two layers of fabric and coated in neoprene.
When inflated, the composite would be fastened together and restrained by thousands of nylon
tie yarns, giving Airmat one of the highest strength-to-weight ratios of any construction
material in the world.
With it, Goodyear could now design an inflatable plane that looked less like a wobbly balloon
and more like an actual airplane.
Drastically improving aerodynamic performance.
And throughout the 1950 s, Goodyear developed a series of inflatable aircraft designs, with
each one improving on speed, range and maneuverability.
They even made a version that could carry two people at once.
And Goodyear was convinced that their planes could help save lives.
During the Korean War of the early 1950s, hundreds of US airmen were shot down behind
enemy lines.
And many survived, but few with any real hope of being rescued.
In fact, only ten percent of pilots downed during the War were saved.
Search and rescue in the middle of a combat zone was just too dangerous.
So the advice given to stranded pilots was to just try and hike out back to safety.
But with an Inflatoplane, a stranded pilot could fly himself out of danger.
Small enough to pack up inside a pod and drop from the wing of an aircraft or be stuffed
into a crate and shoved out the back of an airplane.
Inflatoplanes could be airdropped to stranded pilots without having to risk the lives of
search and rescue teams.
And for a downed pilot, getting one ready for flight would be a breeze.
An empty inflatoplane weighed just 200 pounds.
And the pilot would simply need to unfurl the wings and begin inflating the plane with
a hand pump.
Once inflated half way, he could switch on the engine and it would take over and expand
the plane upto to its full size.
Thanks to the rigidity of the Airmat, an Inflatoplane needed just 7 psi of pressure to keep its
shape.
A lot less than a car tire.
And it meant it could be inflated in only 5 minutes according to Goodyear.
With 20 gallons of fuel, an Inflatoplane had a range of over 600 km and could remain airborne
for more than six hours.
And by most accounts, it flew pretty well.
With easy and predictable handling and cruising speed of one hundred kilometers an hour.
But taking on enemy fire in a blow up rubber plane would give a whole new meaning to depressurization.
Fortunately, the Inflatoplane s engine would continually top up air pressure.
Meaning it could take a few hits from small arms fire and still remain airworthy.
Goodyear s clever piece of engineering also captured the public s imagination.
With newspapers speculating that inflatable planes might one day be made available to
the average Joe.
I deal kit for vacationers, hunters, and hobbyists a plane small and light enough to pack up
inside the family s station wagon.
But the military was just beginning to test the Inflatoplane, and it would soon end in
tragedy.
In 1959, the Navy and Army received ten planes for evaluation, and it didn't take long for
problems to emerge.
In April, a Goodyear test pilot pulled up too quickly, causing a wing to fold over and
strike the propeller.
The plane quickly deflated into a mess of freefalling rubber.
Fortunately, the pilot was able to bail out.
But less than two months later, an Army pilot wasn't so lucky/ This time a control cable
jammed.
Again causing a wing to fold.
And the pilot never made it out.
The two crashes raised concerns about the safety of inflatable aircraft.
But even before the losses, there were already serious doubts about whether the concept made
sense.
In the open fields of Europe, a downed pilot might find three hundred feet of space needed
to take off.
But in the thick mountainous jungles of Vietnam, not likely.
And the prospect of a pilot, shot down in a high flying fast jet having to fly back
through enemy territory in a slow and low flying inflatable plane was questionable.
As one Army general put it, what good was a plane that could be brought down using a
well aimed bow and arrow?
And while that claim wasn't technically true it didn't matter.
Because by the late 1950s rescue team operations had become far more sophisticated.
And rescue helicopters could also fly longer distances to reach stranded pilots.
And it meant that there was little prospect of selling the Inflatoplane to the military.
So Goodyear slowly let the air out of the program.
After 1962, they never built another Inflatable plane again.
And while tests continued, in 1973 the program was officially cancelled.
Maybe inflatable planes never had much of a chance.
But aviation is about to get a whole lot more exciting.
The way we fly is about to change.
Battery power could lead to quieter, more environmentally friendly aircraft.
Hydrogen-electric airliners might pave the way for zero-emissions.
And urban air mobility promises to transform travel within cities.
You can learn about the exciting future of aviation on Curiositystream.
A streaming service with thousands full length high quality documentaries.
Sign up for CuriosityStream with the link below and you ll also get access to my own
streaming service Nebula for free.
It s where you can watch exclusive Mustard videos without ads or sponsor messages.
From Real Engineering, to The Efficient Engineer, to Practical Engineering.
Nebula is the best way to support educational creators.
For less than 15 dollars for an entire year, you can get unlimited access to both CuriosityStream
and Nebula by going to curiositystream.com/mustard and use the promo code mustard when you sign
up.