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Getting a sound right now.
I think probably if you speak up just a little into this, I'll try to hold it.
Are you ready to go? Yeah, let's go.
Dr.
Bertelsen, where is your home? At Neponset, Illinois.
We've just seen a demonstration of the Aeromobile, a very efficient demonstration.
We understand you're a medical doctor.
What led you to invent such a machine? Well, it was a real need in my rural territory.
We have every winter about two feet of snow on some occasions, and my car is absolutely stopped.
And every spring we have two feet of mud in certain areas, and we cannot pass through with an ordinary car.
So this was as a result of the search for a real good flying machine which will get around this territory at a price which a physician can afford.
The helicopter being out of economic range of an ordinary doctor.
A helicopter then.
Yes, you might call it an internal flow helicopter with an excellent ground effect.
That is, it has more lift near the ground.
What commercial possibilities? And they also have the faculty of going on very, very cheap roads.
That is, you won't need anything but sod or grass or some dust -free medium on which to go.
You don't need a foot -thick slab of concrete.
So we feel that this is a real challenge.
The maneuvering of the helicopter is a real challenge.
The durability of this car, would it make it easier to park and to operate in traffic? Much easier.
You can park sideways, and when you drive in your driveway you don't have to back out.
You simply make a pivot turn and drive out forward.
I noticed during the demonstration this morning that there was a lot of noise.
Now, is this a drawback? Could it be corrected? Yes, this noise is mainly the lack of a muffler on the engine.
We have a rather crude and inefficient muffler, but the air noise is a very small part of it, and the engine could be made theoretically as quiet as an automobile engine.
You said the machine has commercial possibilities.
What steps are you taking to bring this about? And is there any estimation how long before such a machine would be in production? We're trying to iron out all the developmental problems on our basic machines.
This one we showed this morning was a research machine, of course.
It is a little too heavy and it is a little too inefficient, and we think that we will gradually go through several more production prototypes and then eventually have a machine that will be useful immediately over rough terrain, over swamps, marshes, rice fields.
One interesting thing about these things is that they can go up and down the rapids on a river, as well as go up as well as down, and this is the only vehicle that could negotiate such an area.
At the time you refine your machine, then, how do you plan to actually market it? It will be sold first to use on marshes and swamps and over a rough country, and then ultimately I think that we will be in position to consider using them for transportation.
Is it correct that you already have sold one of these machines to the government? Yes, the U .S.
Department of Commerce Office of International Trade Fairs bought one, and this will be delivered in January for shipment to Tokyo, to the International Trade Fair at Tokyo, Japan in April 1961, and from there it will go to Italy in June and Yugoslavia in September, as an example of American technology.
How difficult would it be for me to drive one of these aeromobiles? It's really quite simple.
In contrast to other aircraft, you don't have to worry about turning it over or maintaining flying speed or actually coming in and hitting a runway and so on.
This machine hovers and it follows the terrain so you don't have a fear of turning it over or diving it into the ground or any such problem as that.
It's very simple.
Many novices have flown this machine.
It's a great success.
Is there an actual stick just as there would be in an airplane? Yes, we do control the roll and the pitch of the machine with a stick, and we have foot pedals to control its steering, just exactly as it is in a helicopter or an aircraft.
One final question.
I know there are other machines that go under the name of hovermobile, and I believe Curtis Wright has a machine on the market.
Is there a lot of competition racing to get into the market? Actually, we feel we have the world beat on this.
We have the most controllable, the most efficient, and the only one really ready for production.
The introduction says that the machine will be ready for production by now, and we know that the production is in progress as far as mass production is concerned.
What he plans to do? We plan to have the machine now before it is in mass production.
Okay.
Okay, one more question and we'll come back.
Dr.
Bertelsen, what are your immediate plans for the Aeromobile before it goes into mass production? We'll use it in exhibitions around the country to show the American public what the ground effect is.
No one has seen one, no one knows what it is.
It's like trying to describe an elephant to a blind man, and until you actually see one, we'll have to show the public on exhibitions, demonstrations, fairs, expositions, and various public gatherings, just exactly.
This machine can be obtained through Mr.
Jimmy Birch at Oklahoma City, our agent, Convention Decorating Company, or Theme Parks, Inc.
is the agency to contact to obtain this machine for exhibitions.
I see.
Thank you very much, Dr.
Bertelsen.
So we see that you are trying to introduce to the public a new mode of travel.
That was really awful, hard work.
I didn't know anyone that much.
Now I see the commercial.
I just didn't know anyone.
I wish I had.
Sorry.
