Presenting the new Portsmouth Aerocar From Aerocar to Motor Car in a few easy steps 1
Origin of the Portsmouth Aerocar The Portsmouth Aviation Company s Portsmouth Aerocar emerged in the immediate post war period as a versatile, multi-role light general aviation aircraft. The ideas for the Aerocar originated from the managing director of Portsmouth Aviation, Lionel Balfour. He had anticipated that after the war the commercial aviation industry would be faced with a shortage of aircraft. The Aerocar was envisaged as being suitable for re-instating the sort of air service operated by PSIOWA in the 1930s and could be easily adapted for a number of roles. The Aerocar concept was conceived and developed by Lionel Balfour. The Aerocar design took the form of a high wing twin engined, twin boom configuration with an under-slung fuselage pod that could be tailored for a number of different roles without affecting the basic design. Key aspects of the design were its practicality, versatility and simplicity. The Prototype Aerocar G-AGTG was flown in 1947 when it was exhibited at the 1947 SBAC Show held at Radlett. The pod and boom layout and its multi-role capability attracted much interest, despite the fact that the prototype was somewhat under powered/over weight. However, after a promising start financial backing for full development and production was not forthcoming such that by the latter part of 1948 the Aerocar project was abandoned following re-structuring of the Portsmouth Aviation Company. 2
Portsmouth Aerocar General Arrangement 3
Artist s s impression of the Portsmouth Aerocar 4
Portsmouth Aerocar Aeroplane Advertisement 5
Portsmouth Aerocar Land-plane Variant 6
Portsmouth Aerocar Ski-plane Variant 7
Portsmouth Aerocar Float-plane Variant 8
Portsmouth Aerocar in Aerial Drop/Pick-up Role 9
Portsmouth Aerocar as a Private/Light Executive Transport 10
Portsmouth Aerocar in Flying Office Role 11
Portsmouth Aerocar Under Construction at Portsmouth c1946 12
Portsmouth Aerocar Pilot s s Control Panel 13
Rotol Variable Pitch Propellers for the Portsmouth Aerocar 14
Portsmouth Aerocar s First Flight on June 18th 1947 15
Portsmouth Aerocar on Show at Radlett in 1947 16
Portsmouth Aviation Stand at the SBAC Farnborough Show in 1948 17
Peter Masefield takes a look at the Portsmouth Aerocar 18
Portsmouth Aerocar ready for a flight 19
Portsmouth Aerocar makes a low pass to impress spectators 20
Portsmouth Aerocar seen at Portsmouth c1947 with several Airspeed Consul (converted military Oxfords) aircraft parked in the background 21
Novel design of the Portsmouth Aerocar is evident in this air to air publicity shot 22
Although the prototype was under- powered the Portsmouth Aerocar appeared to be set for a successful future 23
Demise of the Portsmouth Aerocar Lionel Balfour s vision of the Portsmouth Aviation Company s Portsmouth Aerocar as the main element of its business in the post war era was sadly not realised. Despite the fact that the Aerocar was a practical, imaginative and affordable aircraft design that showed much promise of being capable of fulfilling a variety of roles for civil and military purposes, financial constraints and adverse circumstances beyond the control of the company meant that backing for the project diminished to a point where the Aerocar project could not continue. The main chance of success for the Aerocar rested on an agreement for licence manufacture in India. However, the deal collapsed as a result of the Indian principals being unable to proceed due to internal troubles arising from partitioning of India as part of the process of granting the Indian nation independence to become part of the British Commonwealth. The knock on effect of this situation was that the Portsmouth Aviation Company financial position became untenable and as result the company was re-organised and restructured financially whereby Lionel Balfour no longer had any financial interest in the company. Further development of the Aerocar ceased and G-AGTG was stored for a few years and then scrapped. 24