INVENTOR DREAMS OF FLYING CITIES

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5326, 12 February 1947, Page 2

INVENTOR DREAMS OF FLYING CITIES

CH'ICAGO. Most amhitious castles-in-the-air cheme ever conceived is that of in/entor Leonard . Plehanek, who plans .o build mobile flying cities. These, he says, would follow the mn and solve housing and space hortages. His scheme is for an all-aluminunx, lelium-filled, jet-propelled city, which he ciaims could be built in a few , ears at much lower cost than cities row resting* on earth. It would be clean, airy, would fly south with the birds in winter and .hover over a cool section of the eai-th in summer. He aims as a modest begjnning to s.tart by building individual houses with cruising speeds of ili50 m.p.h. He says he could1 huild two-and-a-half-room homes for 1500 dollars each, on an assembly line basis. The hoiises would 'be shaped like dirig-ibles, with a ' gas compartment where the back porch should be and a pilot's seat on the ."verandah." Living quarters would be in the front section. As soon as he has built enough, he says he could hitch them together, build aluminium gas-filled streets, office buildings and stores, and found new cities all over the atmosphere. He added: "I am not just building castles in the air either. It can really be done."