About 1960 I was standing on a ladder painting the widows on the Goodyear hanger in Akron Ohio, when a I saw a car pull onto the tarmac. A man and a child got out of the car and proceed to inflate a big folded blob of rubber. Wings popped out and soon there was a fully inflated plane. The adult attached an engine that he had in the car's trunk to the craft. The man and the boy got into the plane. I watched slack jawed as the plane taxied down the runway and took off, leaving the car on the side of the Tarmac.

It will be very usefull if goodyear manufactured a similar model but for civil purposes... IŽll surelly look forward to buy one...

How could it be use for gun fighting if all the gunners are shooting it down? Does it has a bullet proof elastic body? Secondly, would it be costly to build and most of the gadgets , could it be used with it? Just wonder...

One of these Inflatoplanes was on display in the Ohio Museum of Aviation, which was located at the Columbus, Ohio airport but went defunct around 2002. This Inflatoplane no longer appears in an up-to-date comprehensive directory of museum aircraft that I have (nor does any other specimen, for that matter). Does anyone know what happened to it?

I was working at Wingfoot Lake when the crash occured that Jesse Shannon mentioned. The report we were given is that the engine was missing and acting up. The pilot tried to bail out and was struck in the head by the blades. His helmet did not preserve his life. We were told that if he had stayed with the plane he could have landed it safely. Where is the Shadow when you need him.

I own a Goodyear GA468 Inflatoplane single seat with a Nelson engine.

Someone needs to get to the Goodyear Flight Department on the Akron Canton Airport.. They have pictures in the boardroom there of every plane ever made by Goodyear and they go around the room

I was one of the Army mechanics that witnessed the crash and the death 1LT Wallace, one of the Army aviators testing the Inflatoplane. It crashed at Wingfoot Lake, Akron, OH in 1958 or 1959 if I recall. The one we were testing had a pusher prop and a McCulloch engine.

"Okay, honey- The kids are back from camp and they want to play in the inflatable jungle gym now. And when are you going to put the lawnmower back together??"

There was another Goodyear plane that is missing. It was also built in the Engineering Shops. It was an ultralight one man helicopter called the Gizmo as I recall. It was successfully test flown several times but evidently there was no interest, so it was stored away.

Is there anyone in the near future trying to make a light sport aircraft or new experimental aircraft or kits for this airpalne? I am very interested.

http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/inflatoplane

the surviving test pilot of that plane now lives in Washington NC. His name is Phil Talbott and he is a very good friend of mine.