It is an interesting concept, but if that beasty loses power I'll bet
 your options are few.  Even if "windmilling," that squirrel cage on
 the leading edge of the wing is going to produce a ton of drag.
 Setting up a nice glide would be problematic.

  Mark W.

  Good point. I would say worse than a helicopter.

  Paul Lamar

 Not to mention, if this concept was viable, the big riverboat style
 paddle propulsion would still be in vogue.  Props are much more
 efficient.

 Chris C.

 Maybe they should have put the paddle wheel on the front of
 the boat and then the boat would be floating on a cushion of air.
 Patent applied for :)

 Paul Lamar

Hmmm recycle...
See Engineering For The Amateur Aircraft Builder, by Raoul J. Hoffman.
The nose of the airfoil, March 1943. p69-70.  Diagram #15 shows 3
variants of this design with a smaller diameter lawn mower.
"On small models they showed great improvement.  On a full-sized
airplane the increase was negligible."
Cheers
Cary


Can you scan some pictures Cary. I would like to
see how he did it.

I have my own invention along these lines :)

Paul Lamar