The Flying Mizar

In the early 1970s, avionics entrepreneurs, Henry Smolinski and Hal Blake founded Advanced Vehicle Engineers (AVE) to build a flying car. They called it the Mizar, named after one of the twin stars in the Big Dipper. Their concept was similar to Convair Corporation’s ConvAircar of the late 1940s, combining airplane and automobile units that could be attached or detached at the airport. In the case of the Mizar it was the union of a Cessna 337 Skymaster and a 1971 Ford Pinto.

Over 40 modifications were made to the Pinto to make it compatible for flying duty.

But apparently it could have used a few more.

On September 11, 1973, Smolinski and Blake took off on a promotional flight from Ventura County airport in Southern California. Their Mizar was airborne for a little more than 2 minutes before several welds failed. This caused the Cessna above and the Pinto below to go their separate ways. This left the two inventors 1000 feet in the air in a wingless 2000lb car. They both perished in the fiery crash that ensued.

It is beyond ironic that around that same time as the crash, the NHTSA was initiating an investigation into land bound Pintos for their incendiary tendencies. Only two Mizars were ever built. The fate of the second in not known.

Copyright@2021 by Mal Pearson