Wendel Wobido and Stephen Nagel, both of Berlin, NJ, called their new invention the Comet Plane, and it was designed to navigate air, land and sea. The three-wheeled craft powered by a radial airplane engine inside the front of a hollow cylindrical fuselage was designed, so the thrust generated by the propellor exited the rear on either side of the tail fin allowing it to fly with very small wings.

Late in July of 1930, the pair took the machine to Florence Lake in Berlin for its first trial. It passed the test for two of the three objectives by moving on its own on land and skimming across the water at speed, but it refused to take off and fly. The plane’s reluctance to ascend was caused, the inventors claim, by a faulty engine which went dead.

The 39-year-old Wobido, who is German, can be seen entering the cockpit. He claimed the plane would fly at 300 mph and be able to travel non-stop to Germany in 12 hours. The photo is courtesy of Frank Barrett of Toad Hall Motorbooks. Another photo of the rear of the plane can be seen at Modern Mechanix.