3 ms·

This was done in 50's and 60's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion-propelled_aircraft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion-propelled_aircraft > The use of EHD propu

by judge2020 4y ago

This was done in 50's and 60's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion-propelled_aircraft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion-propelled_aircraft > The use of EHD propulsion for lift was studied by American aircraft designer Major Alexander Prokofieff de Seversky in the 1950s and 1960s. He filed a patent for an "ionocraft" in 1959. He built and flew a model VTOL ionocraft capable of sideways manoeuvring by varying the voltages applied in different areas, although the heavy power supply remained external.

danielmorozoff 4y ago
This is exactly right, when I was in grad school we also explored new ionization designs to reduce the voltage requirements to achieve this. In our explorations, biggest problems were weight and voltage issues. Very cool to see though, you can make this at home with a very basic high voltage generator and a set of needles. Here's another design for DIY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGq7LfjDyZM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGq7LfjDyZM
beanjuice 4y ago
Heres an old video of one such example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GijJmIz1G7U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GijJmIz1G7U
samizdis 4y ago
Wow. Seversky was the guy advocating for long-range air power in WWII. He wrote Victory Through Air Power, which inspired Disney to finance an animated film on the subject out of his own pocket. Seversky appears in person in the film to introduce some concepts. The film is just amazing. It was available as part of a Disney DVD compilation quite a few years ago (Disney in the Trenches? [edit to correct title of box set: it was "Walt Disney Treasures - On the Front Lines"]). The standalone film is on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/VictoryThroughAirPower https://archive.org/details/VictoryThroughAirPower Edit to add: Here's the Wikipedia page about Victory Through Air Power https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Through_Air_Power https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Through_Air_Power From the page: Filmmaker Walt Disney read the book, and felt that its message was so important that he would personally finance a partly-animated short, also called Victory Through Air Power, which was released in July 1943.[3] Disney's purpose for creating the film was to promote Seversky's theories to government officials and the public. After seeing the film, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt decided that Seversky knew what he was talking about, changing the course of the war.
teraflop 4y ago
I think there's a big qualitative difference between an aircraft that can carry its own power source, and one that needs to be tethered to the ground.
- YeBanKo 4y ago
  Well, there is also a huge advancement in small power sources since 60s

danielmorozoff 4y ago

This is exactly right, when I was in grad school we also explored new ionization designs to reduce the voltage requirements to achieve this. In our explorations, biggest problems were weight and voltage issues. Very cool to see though, you can make this at home with a very basic high voltage generator and a set of needles. Here's another design for DIY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGq7LfjDyZM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGq7LfjDyZM

beanjuice 4y ago

Heres an old video of one such example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GijJmIz1G7U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GijJmIz1G7U

samizdis 4y ago

Wow. Seversky was the guy advocating for long-range air power in WWII. He wrote Victory Through Air Power, which inspired Disney to finance an animated film on the subject out of his own pocket. Seversky appears in person in the film to introduce some concepts. The film is just amazing. It was available as part of a Disney DVD compilation quite a few years ago (Disney in the Trenches? [edit to correct title of box set: it was "Walt Disney Treasures - On the Front Lines"]). The standalone film is on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/VictoryThroughAirPower https://archive.org/details/VictoryThroughAirPower Edit to add: Here's the Wikipedia page about Victory Through Air Power https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Through_Air_Power https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Through_Air_Power From the page: Filmmaker Walt Disney read the book, and felt that its message was so important that he would personally finance a partly-animated short, also called Victory Through Air Power, which was released in July 1943.[3] Disney's purpose for creating the film was to promote Seversky's theories to government officials and the public. After seeing the film, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt decided that Seversky knew what he was talking about, changing the course of the war.

teraflop 4y ago

I think there's a big qualitative difference between an aircraft that can carry its own power source, and one that needs to be tethered to the ground.

YeBanKo 4y ago
Well, there is also a huge advancement in small power sources since 60s