In 1956, the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation, an offshoot of the tire and rubber company, created the Inflatoplane, an all-fabric inflatable aircraft based on Taylor McDaniel's inflatable rubber glider experiments in 1931.

Goodyear designed and built the prototype in just 12 weeks. The new flying machine was made largely out of a brand-new rubberized fabric that gave it one of the highest strength-to-weight ratios of any material at the time.

The plane was intended to be used by the U.S. Army for reconnaissance missions, or as a rescue plane which could be dropped (in a hardened container) behind enemy lines. The 44 cubic ft (1.25 cubic meter) container could also be transported by truck, trailer or a conventional aircraft.

Structural integrity was retained in flight with forced air being continually circulated by the aircraft's motor. This continuous pressure supply even enabled the aircraft to have a degree of puncture resilience.

Although it seemed an improbable project, the finished Inflatoplane proved to be capable of meeting its design objectives, although orders were never forthcoming from the military.

There were at least two versions: The GA-468 was a single-seater which took about five minutes to inflate. The pilot would then hand-start the gasoline-powered engine. The GA-466 (two-seater version) was 2” (51 mm) shorter, but had a 6 ft (1.8 m) longer wingspan than the GA-468. It also had a more more powerful 60 horsepower (45 kW) engine.

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