Dates

• Existence: 1912 - 1995

Biographical Note: Molt Taylor

Molt Taylor was an inventor and aviation enthusiast best known for inventing the Aerocar, a widely publicized roadable aircraft.

Moulton Burnell “Molt” Taylor was born in 1912 in Portland, Oregon to William Albert Taylor and Edith Kate Moulton. At some point when he was a child, his family moved to Longview, Washington where he enjoyed watching airplanes and barnstormers. He took his first flight at age 14 and had learned to fly by the time he turned 16. He went on to study aeronautical engineering and business at the University of Washington (UW). After graduating, he joined the U.S. Navy in 1936 as a naval aviation cadet and then served as a pilot during World War II. He was awarded the Legion of Merit medal for his work on the Navy’s Gorgon missile program, an early guided missile. Around this time he also designed and marketed the Taylor Airphone, a small radio-communications device to assist with instrument flying.

After the war, Taylor worked on designing small amphibious aircraft. While researching this, he met Robert Fulton who had designed the “Airphibian,” a small roadable aircraft, and this inspired Taylor to design and build his own flying car, becoming passionate about a future where everyone had a roadable aircraft. He founded Aerocar International in Longview, Washington to realize his dream. By April 1948 he had established a small workshop and brought together a team of engineers. They built a one-quarter scale model and performed aerodynamic testing on it at UW. His father, who ran a savings-and-loan in Longview, helped him find investors and by 1949 Taylor and his team were able to build the Aerocar I, the first prototype, which took its first flight in December 8, 1949. The Aerocar was a two-seater flying car with a propeller in the back. Its wings could be folded and towed when not in use as a plane. After the first flights, the team made modifications, including using a 125 horsepower Lycoming engine to replace the original Franklin engine.

The process of certifying the design took several years. During the testing process, the Civil Aeronautics Administration found hundreds of details that needed attention, mostly centering around structural integrity of the folding wings. They also had to make compromises regarding how to record ground time and flight time since a single engine was used for both road and flight travel. The Aerocar finally achieved certification in 1956. Their patent, which had been pending since 1952, was also awarded in late 1956. The patent gave them legal right to the concept of towing the wings.

At that point Taylor wanted to make and sell Aerocars on a large scale. The team believed that the eventual market for the Aerocar would be as big as the car market and that they would produce two planes a day, selling for between $3-4,000 dollars. Taylor demonstrated the Aerocar at events across the country. Actor Bob Cummings was an owner and proponent of the Aerocar, promoting it on his eponymous television show. Althought the Aerocar received national attention, only six Aerocars were ever produced. Complying with regulations for both aircraft and automobiles proved to be too much of a hurdle and the Aerocar company could not mass-produce its product.

Throughout his life, Taylor remained committed to the viability of a roadable aircraft, but also worked on other inventions and aircraft designs. He designed the Taylor Coot, a two-seat amphibious aircraft, in the late 1960s. The Aerocar IMP was a home-built airccraft, its design derivative of the Aerocar airplane design, the "IMP" standing for "Independently Made Plane." The Mini-IMP was single-seat version of the IMP.

Taylor married Lilian Verneil "Neil" Gregory on April 16, 1956 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Taylor died November 16, 1995 in Longview, Washington.

Biographical note derived from collection information, records on Ancestry.com and the following sources:

• Cipala, Rita. "Taylor, Moulton "Molt" (1912-1995)," History Link. December 3, 2019. https://www.historylink.org/file/20929.
• “Molt Taylor.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, June 2, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molt_Taylor.
• Powell, Dennis E. "Winging It! -- Down The Road, Through The Clouds The Aerocar Idea Is Still Aloft," Seattle Times. July 15, 1990. https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19900715/1082241/winging-it----down-the-road-through-the-clouds-the-aerocar-idea-is-still-aloft

Occupations

• Aeronautical engineers
• Inventors

Places

• Longview (Wash.) (Residence)
• Washington (State) (Residence)
• Portland (Or.) (Place of Birth)
• Oregon (Place of Birth)

Found in 1 Collection or Record: