[PSUBS-MAILIST] Flying submarines

[CWall@swri.edu]

Hi guys- new poster here.

There were actually two flying submarines that I recall- I don't have any
references, however.

The first was built by a junior high school class and their teacher (but don't
ask me where).  

The kids had the idea, and the finished product was a mongrel assortment of Cub

 wings and an open frame fuselage, with two occupants seated side-by-side and
the engine on a pylon above the wing.  The thing flew, of course, and landed on

 the fuselage hull bottom.   The inovation was that the engine and instruments
could be sealed against water and the machine sunk to the bottom for
concealment.   When I read about it in one of the flying magazines, they had
yet to install the electric motors for underwater propulsion.  I doubt they
ever did, because the damned thing wasn't about to go anywhere submerged.  (It
didn't fold up, and airplanes underwater have a LOT of drag.)

The military picked up on the idea from what the kids and their teacher had
done, and tried to do it better.  I believe they got as far as an airplane that

would sink and recover, which is to say: no further than the kids got.

Don't kid yourself- these were not submarines in any real sense of the word. An

 airplane is a lousy thing to try to drive inderwater.

Incidently, this was almost certainly inspired by a one-time popular pastime,
which is flying plastic model airplanes underwater.   My brother and I spent
many happy hours in the local swimming pool doing just this, and they can
perform quite spectacularly- rubber-powered prop planes, and jets that glider
upwards, etc...

...unfortunately, this sort of thing doesn't scale well.   Or at least, adding
power doesn't get you any more speed than the thing will glide at, which is to
say- very slowly, if you're trying to go someplace.

Craig Wall