Combat the high cost of air travel.....

[wrascalism.livejournal.com]

1931

Comments

[flamingtoilet.livejournal.com]

Oh, that just looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

[http://users.livejournal.com/___sloppyfirsts/]

I want one.
Think it's too late to send in that coupon?
:)

[ms-hissyfit.livejournal.com]

I want one too. (And your icon is brilliant.)

[http://users.livejournal.com/___sloppyfirsts/]

Thank you :)

[mystical-chickn.livejournal.com]

I see absolutely nothing hazardous about that concept at all. *cough*

[mystical-chickn.livejournal.com]

also OMG the "testimonial" quotes. Do these kids live in an episode of Leave It To Beaver?

[danthered.livejournal.com]

Boy, they're swell!

(And I hope Stanley Carolan gets a lump of coal in his stocking this Xmas, the selfish little rotter…)

[sirlarkins.livejournal.com]

"Look at the picture above. Note how the Glide-O-Bike's front wheel is taking off the ground."

Note how we never actually say your bike will go any higher than that or, you know, actually fly.

[janenx01.livejournal.com]

I'd buy it if it came with the pants.

[epb5.livejournal.com]

"I never spent a quarter better I can tell you." BEST LINE EVER.

[custardpringle.livejournal.com]

Do you know what year this is from? I love the illustration so much.

[wrascalism.livejournal.com]

1931, apparently you could send in your quarter until the early 1960s.

[kousu.livejournal.com]

"Boy, they sure are swell"? AmaZing.

[psst, date?]

[wrascalism.livejournal.com]

At first I thought it was a hoax, but they actually existed starting in the Great Depression era.

(Thanks for the offer of a date, I'm flattered, my partner would not be, tho.)

[mswyrr]

...and apparently a penis is required to make it work? Since no girls are supposed to use it!

((sigh))

((comforts self with pictures of Amelia Earhart being fucking awesome inna plane))



((and the WWII WASP pilots))

one more BAMF WASP

[mswyrr]

Re: one more BAMF WASP

[woodburner.livejournal.com]

So dashing ♥

[mswyrr]

And the Soviet Night Witches.

[sirlarkins.livejournal.com]

Hooray for the Night Witches!

[bernthewitch.livejournal.com]

Wowzer. Nothing against false advertising in this *assumed* era huh?

Sentences of note:

"... recently appeared in the leading scientific magazines of America AND GERMANY"

"I've already begun to give other fellows rides..." Ah the innocence of youth.

"You can bank, ground-loop (?), stall and side-slip". Pardon?

[erik]

Bank: lean the bike into a turn

Ground-loop: dip one wing so far that it touches the ground and spins you rapidly around. This is a Bad Thing

Stall: lose aerodynamic effect due to low speed during a climb. For instance the moment the back wheel lifts off the ground and your thrust drops to zero. This is a Bad Thing.

Side-slip: uneven lift on the wings causes the vehicle to be thrust down and to one side while the other wing is lifted.

[lightning-rose.livejournal.com]

Side-slipping that close to the ground would certainly result in a ground-loop, indeed a bad thing.

The CG is so far back I believe the only way the rear wheel would ever leave the ground is if a strong gust of wind blew the bike over backwards.

Hell, I'd ride one, but I'd use my little brother's bicycle as the donor vehicle. :)

Edit: The angle of attack as illustrated is so high, I'm sure the wing would stall out by then, either causing the wheel to drop or reaching a steady state with the front wheel off the ground.

[meezergal.livejournal.com]

Bank: lean the bike into a turn

Ground-loop: dip one wing so far that it touches the ground and spins you rapidly around. This is a Bad Thing

Stall: lose aerodynamic effect due to low speed during a climb. For instance the moment the back wheel lifts off the ground and your thrust drops to zero. This is a Bad Thing.

Side-slip: uneven lift on the wings causes the vehicle to be thrust down and to one side while the other wing is lifted.

So they tell you you can do a lot of Bad Flying Stuff with it and then also say, "Absolutely nothing like this for fun and thrills." H'm. More like "Absolutely nothing like this for smashing you and your bike into little bitty pieces", more like.

And WTH--no adults? Yeah, it's Boys' Airport Fantasy (Boo! A bike has no joystick, so one of your own is necessary), but still, you'd think an adult'd want to see this unmatched display fun and thrills.

Things WERE different in the old days. ;)

[erik]

And notice that the front wheel is locked in place by the wing stabilizer bars. It's almost completely unsteerable except through the aforementioned ground loop/bank/side slip. Although I guess once the front wheel is off the ground you could steer by leaning like you would a unicycle...

It's easy to see why this idea never *ahem* took off.

[meezergal.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you're right. I took a closer look and realized there's no display of steering mechanism(s). No wonder the "airport" shows both "glide-o-bikes" going in a straight line only, as in taking off.

I wonder how many kids (I refuse to think only boys were intrigued by this) sent away for the plans, and then actually carried them out, as in building the glider parts and attaching them to a bicycle.

And of course, how many disappointed, injured kids with a smashed-up bike there were.

[hazeltea.livejournal.com]

Oh, for the days of no lawsuits and turning your deadly toy into a small business! Screw the lemonade stand, I'm running an AIRPORT this summer!

(I still want to try it, even with probable recovery time considered.)

[chicklet-girl.livejournal.com]

So, what I'm picturing is the scene in A Christmas Story where Ralphie decodes his first secret message from Lil' Orphan Annie ("A crummy commercial? Son of a bitch!"), only with a wrecked bike, smashed wings, and skull fractures. GOOD TIMES.