Faulconer’s Flying Boat Gets off Ground

The flying boat routine has been done before. Tourists have to go only as far as Long Beach to see the Spruce Goose, Howard Hughes’s huge vessel.

But a flying car sounds frivolous.

At least it does to Tom Faulconer, who invented an automobile that got off the ground in reality, but fell short in the sales arena. It’s little wonder that looking at the motion pictures of his flying car, designed in 1935, made Faulconer “feel old.”

In contrast, Faulconer says his flying boat project, which he began three years ago, seems to have restored his youthfulness.

Faulconer, who lives in San Diego, is an aeronautical engineer, inventor and yachtsman.

His flying boat weighs 27,000 tons and is about twice the size of the Spruce Goose.

It was curious that those who listened to Faulconer at the Yachtsmen’s Luncheon at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club weren’t amused by pictures of his flying boat.

But we couldn’t restrain our mirth when we saw his automobile flying. Automobiles simply look funny flying, while boats seem to look all right. Perhaps the reason is that boats, especially sailboats, have frequently been compared to birds in flight, while automobiles seem meant to stay on the ground. Cars can move in spite of the wind, while sailboats and airplanes are sisters of the wind.

Faulconer’s flying car had detachable wings and appeared pretty much like other cars on the road. It had the first fiberglass chassis, the first four-wheel drive brakes and the first curved windshield, but it still looked funny in the air.

Faulconer’s flying boat is no joke. Its most remarkable feature is a telescoping tube that nests in its hull when it is in flight but extends into the sea when landed. He calls this device a spar buoy stabilizer. It is similar to one on the TILT boat, which Faulconer designed for the Scripps Institute of Oceanography for undersea research.

It is this stabilizer upon which the boat rests above the water. Faulconer calls it “sea sitting.” The spar buoy stabilizer reduces the boat’s roll to 1% and its vertical oscillation to less than 10% of a wave’s height in a full gale. The plane can carry at least 3,300 people at a cruising air speed of 600 knots and a speed of 30 to 40 knots on the sea’s surface.

Faulconer said the Navy is considering his flying boat. He explained that it takes weeks to deploy forces by current means, and the boat would do “something for quick response at tremendous distances.”

He said a further advantage is that there are infinitely more landing places for his flying boat on the sea than for conventional aircraft which he called “sitting ducks” on known airfields.

Sailing Notes

The 29th annual Southern California Boat Show will be at the Los Angeles Convention Center through Feb. 10. . . .A public hearing has been called by the Oceanside Harbor District at 7 p.m. Monday to hear comments about the establishment of a commercial fishing vessel docking area at Oceanside Harbor. The meeting will be at City Council chambers. About 20 commercial fishing vessels are scattered throughout the harbor.

John Marshall, who has been involved in the past four defenses of the America’s Cup, has been named coordinator of the design team for Dennis Conner’s America’s Cup 1987 challenge. The announcement was made at the San Diego Yacht Club. Among those who will work on the design of the 12-meter yacht are David Pedrick of Newport, R.I., Bruce Nelson of San Diego and Britton Chance of Essex, Conn. . . .

The 13th annual Festival of the Whales at Dana Point Harbor will open Feb. 16. . . .A county ordinance limits Dana Point Harbor sailboards to a small section near the harbor’s youth dock. The ordinance also makes it illegal for sailboarders to interfere with larger vessels on the harbor’s navigable waters.