Summer Sky Thrill (Jun, 1946)
Summer Sky Thrill is promised by this airplane wheel, the invention of Harold T. Austin, of Seattle, Wash. Austin got the idea while working on B-29s at the Boeing Aircraft plant during the war and set up this first model in the back of his workshop. The wheel, a 1946 version of the Ferris Wheel, has twelve small planes which rotate on a vertical axis as the wheel goes ’round. The inventor and four former Boeing employees plan to put it into production for carnivals and amusement parks.
Looks like fun, hope it has seat belts.
A very similar ride called the Divebombers appeared in the fair during my Scottish 1970s childhood. It had, however, only two “cars”, which were larger and enclosed. I would never have considered going on it, coward that I am.
Harold Austin was quite a clever man: http://community.seattl…