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CIA Airlines: Inflatable Getaway Plane Delivered Upon Request
Posted by Wilson Rothman at 10:50 AM on May 22, 2008
You find yourself held under "house arrest" in a remote jungle region of Indonesia, sometime in the late 1950s. You may have your suit, fedora and at least one halfway decent tie, but the chances of getting back to the US of A seem slim. The CIA thinks you're not so dispensable, so spytechs—with the help of the always patriotic Goodyear Company—build an inflatable aeroplane that they can drop into a jungle clearing. Here's what it looks like when fully inflated and ready for takeoff:
One version was apparently inflated by adding water to special pellets which produced gas. Another version says the engine itself, sans prop, pumped the plane up. Either way, it quickly became airworthy and, as a raft as well, could use a body of water as a takeoff strip.
One of the agents involved told the Spycraft authors that it was a viable invention: "We tested it and it worked out pretty good." He admits, though, that the project was killed, probably because of "politics." When a similar crisis emerged later on, the agent thought to pull it out of storage and put it to work, but by then, it had rotted and cracked in a secret CIA warehouse. (They probably shouldn't have put it right next to the Arc of the Covenant.) [More CIA Spytech from the Spycraft Book]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
DJrock3k
Posted 6:46 AM 23/5/08
@Kingteddybear: Or on CBS's 'The Unit"
DJrock3k
aec007
Posted 5:36 AM 23/5/08
et al,
Saw it on Dsc. Channel too. They were called "inflatoplanes"...
[en.wikipedia.org]
aec007
Worf
Posted 2:20 AM 23/5/08
Heh, I saw this on I think Discovery Wings ages ago - neat concept. They showed it with the engine inflator...
Worf
weshirecat
Posted 1:35 AM 23/5/08
@ cookiefox
McGuiver did make a plane once to ecsape from the top of a mesa. He made it out of toilet paper, a fan, and a folding chair!! and it didn't have to be filated...uh infliated.
weshirecat
nutbastard
Posted 12:51 AM 23/5/08
@theimmc:
hilarious. props to dbx for correcting you, too.
nutbastard
FrancesTheMute
Posted 12:39 AM 23/5/08
@theimmc: *WHOOSH*! that's the sound of it flying right over dbx's head. Don't worry, theimmc, I got your post.
FrancesTheMute
GeekyNerdGuy
Posted 12:19 AM 23/5/08
@norcom: Nah, Bond had Little Nellie. She came in suitcases and had to be bolted together, but then again, she didn't rot.
GeekyNerdGuy
flyboy
Posted 11:13 PM 22/5/08
good job it wasn't made by IKEA.
ther'd be no screws to put the wings on... :-)
flyboy
Git Em SteveDave
Posted 9:56 PM 22/5/08
@Cookiefox: If he had a lawn mover, why doesn't he ride that where he has to go?
Git Em SteveDave
Cookiefox
Posted 8:56 PM 22/5/08
Psssh, Macgyver could've made that with a air mattress, 2 shoelaces, a broken lawn mover and a bottle of 1974 Irish Whiskey... Come again CIA, you can do better than that!
Cookiefox
Git Em SteveDave
Posted 8:13 PM 22/5/08
@TrafficGeek: His name was Otto Pilot from Airplane.
Git Em SteveDave
theimmc
Posted 4:57 PM 22/5/08
@dbx: I'd have to be dead during the last few decades not to know about the movie. But Arc != Ark.
theimmc
thechansen
Posted 3:24 PM 22/5/08
this is so much cooler than my inflatable kayak... But I could jury rig the kayak up to a hang glider and strap a lawn mower on the back: ultra cheap ultralight. Sure it wouldn't have fancy controls nor suffcient thrust for lift but if I'm correct I could some how manage to cliff launch and take flight. Its been a while since I've gone gliding but it could be only an attempted suicide if I were to rig my self up proper and ditch the extra shit if the plan fails.
thechansen
SoundArtist
Posted 2:04 PM 22/5/08
A plane? Really? Because as far as I know, the only thing they've inflated is their budget!!!
::walks out of room in best Groucho Marx impersonation::
SoundArtist
cabowah
Posted 1:11 PM 22/5/08
I believe a new invention is better that this, with a sink rate at 0.9 per 10 meter. It's is called A paragliding and total weight with instruments and harness is about 14 Kg.. beet that... Then off cause you need the strap on engine on your back... that ad's about 15 Kg more.
Ready to fly, where ever you want.
Top speed is about 50 kilometres an hour.
[www.gingliders.com]
[www.americanparagliding.com]
cabowah
TrafficGeek
Posted 1:00 PM 22/5/08
two words...
inflatable autopilot...
TrafficGeek
Kingteddybear
Posted 12:43 PM 22/5/08
@SudiptiEquestridomus:
Watch in use toward the end of the movie "Green Berets"
Kingteddybear
SudiptiEquestridomus
Posted 12:19 PM 22/5/08
How bout that Fulton surface-to-air recovery system mentioned in MGS3?
SudiptiEquestridomus
Kingteddybear
Posted 12:14 PM 22/5/08
Whoops ... ONR Office of Naval Research.
Kingteddybear
Kingteddybear
Posted 12:13 PM 22/5/08
@Git Em SteveDave:
Wish I remembered the show as well, don't think it was a Wings episode. As I recall the key to the structural integrity were the internal strands of rubber that extended from the upper wing surface to the lower so the structural shape could not over inflate. Internally it looked like the multiple strings of rubber cement you would get if you glued two pieces of paper together and slowly pulled them apart just before the cement cures.
As I recall the plane used in the show was sans Air Force markings.
Kingteddybear
awperk
Posted 11:52 AM 22/5/08
i have a deflatable girlfriend but you can only do it once and you have to hide the knife afterwards...
but seriously, domestic violence is no laughing matter
awperk
Uncle Remus
Posted 11:29 AM 22/5/08
I have an inflatable girlfriend but I have to inflate her myself. She can't fly and would have limited use in the jungle but she makes a good raft and with zero carbon emmissions she's environmentally friendly.
Uncle Remus
Git Em SteveDave
Posted 11:21 AM 22/5/08
@tokiwartooth: I saw this on TV some years back on Discovery Channel, IIRC. As long as the engine runs, it constantly tops off the inflation, so I don't think it suffered these problems.
I wish I remembered what show it was on, so I could search for it. It might have been "WINGS"(not the one w/Tony Shalub). It was in color, and they unrolled+inflated it, and I believe they even flew it. It was cool. The controls were awesome as they were built in.
Git Em SteveDave
dbx
Posted 11:18 AM 22/5/08
the Ark of the Covenant refers to the first Indiana Jones movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, where the ark.... oh never mind... rent it and you'll understand.
dbx
theimmc
Posted 11:05 AM 22/5/08
What's the Arc of the Covenant? The path described by organized religion as it swings back and forth between issues?
theimmc
tokiwartooth
Posted 11:04 AM 22/5/08
Taking this thing to high altitudes must make for some scary flying as the air inside the craft compressed and expanded with the variable air pressure.
tokiwartooth
Technogen
Posted 11:02 AM 22/5/08
Thats a fairly nice idea, though I wonder just how well the range would be.
Technogen
theimmc
Posted 11:01 AM 22/5/08
Another version comes with several cans of beans to produce gas, but never made it into production.
theimmc
norcom
Posted 11:00 AM 22/5/08
Bond would have had an inflatable car included with the plane.
norcom