Flying Cars Banquet at the Museum of Flight

March 7th, Saturday evening, we’ll be holding a banquet at the Museum of Flight, at the south end of Boeing Field in Seattle. Besides enjoying the Great Gallery and all the amazing aircraft on display, we’ll have a dinner speaker named Jake Schultz. Jake, an Issaquah resident and author has written an account of the saga of Mort Taylor and the Aerocar. The book was written with the cooperation of Mort Taylor. In addition, there is a fully restored Aerocar in the collection of the Museum of Flight. While most of the current interest seems to be in autonomous cars, there are also many working on flying cars. Flying cars aren’t a new idea. Decades ago, a number of flying cars were developed. Locally, the Aerocar was developed and successfully driven and flown by Mort Taylor. Five were built before the end. This was in the 1950s and 1960s. Much of the aerodynamic work was done at the University of Washington. One of the five cars was used by a Portland radio station for traffic reporting. Another was owned by television personality Bob Cummings, who featured the car on his weekly show. The Aerocar was covered in the Weekly Reader, making it known to thousands of school children. There was a 1/24 scale model of the Aerocar that was popular. A few dealers around the country were signed up. For a variety of reasons, the car never “took off” commercially. You’ll hear more of the story on the evening of March 7th. Plus, you’ll be able to see the actual Aerocar and get Jake to sign a copy of his book, if you chose to buy one. The cost of attending will be $60 per person for a lovely dinner catered by McCormick & Schmicks. Registration will open in January on the chapter’s website. Save the date of March 7, 2020, Saturday evening, from 6:00 to 10:00. As part of our event, attendees will have access to all the exhibits in the Great Gallery. If you’ve never been there, it is spectacular.