https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/05/historic-photos-of-nasas-cavernous-wind-tunnels/560660/
then of course there were many attempts at flying platforms http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2014/02/army-flying-platforms-ufo-research.html
and http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2014/02/another-army-navy-ufo-flying-platform.html
http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2012/08/how-many-people-who-think-they-have.html
http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/02/proof-that-man-can-design-flying.html
The research and development that AVRO did in its time is beyond brilliant. The Avrocar was a theoretically and conceptually sound endeavor, but like many aerospace experiments of the era the idea was far beyond the leading edge of materials and technology. The availability of advanced composites to make this lighter and stronger, the fly by wire systems to safely control it would not exist until the early 70's. Despite the fact that it was never able to take off vertically and transition to horizontal flight and do everything a fixed wing and a rotary wing aircraft did, it still provided a wealth of data on ground effects. As I recall (I might be mistaken on this) the Avrocar is where the skirt that we see around most hovercraft was invented. And then there was their tour de force, the Avro Arrow...
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