Apr 292014
The San Diego Air and Space Museum has posted a great many images to Flickr, including a fair amount of concept art. One piece (you can see the best-rez version HERE) depicts a Ryan Aeronautical concept for an air boat equipped with a Flex-Wing. Date would probably have been around 1962, plus or minus a few years. The exact role here is a bit obscure… why would the Army have boats like this? Perhaps a troops transport of some type, though a helicopter would probably be a better choice.
It seems to me that some of Ryan’s flex-wing concepts were pretty fanciful. Anyone who has sailed a sailboat or a kite can see that this little thing would be extremely unstable on the water. I think perhaps the two little outrigger sponsons are supposed to address that, but I’m afraid the wing/sail would have to be pretty big and would really overpower those when sitting on the water.
On the other hand, I’m amazed no civilian recreational variants of the Flex-wing concepts ever made it to production. I suppose the modern “trike” is as close as we get.