As a child growing up in the late 1950s, Larry Neal's favorite TV show was "Supercar" — a show about a car that could fly.

"I used to always think to myself, 'When I grow up I'm going to get a car like that — one that can fly,'" Larry Neal said.

Now, nearly 50 years later, the former Crossville resident and 1970 Cumberland County High School graduate has designed and owns the patent on the technology that will allow a vehicle not only to drive, but fly as well.

Neal, inventor of a new flying motorcycle concept, received a U.S. patent for it Dec. 27, 2005. The Super Sky Cycle is based on a Monarch single-seat gyroplane kit, Neal said.

First flown in the Super Sky Cycle configuration on Dec. 23, 2005, the new fly-drive vehicle can fly at 20 mph, cruise at 50 mph at half throttle, and tops out at 65 mph. He said a Rotax 582 engine is used with a three-blade 60-inch propeller.

"I’m flying it now," said Neal, president of The Butterfly LLC company that makes gyroplane kits.

Neal, who now resides in Texas, recently visited family in Crossville on his way through town. Neal said he believes his invention will change the future of transportation as world knows it.

"Every flying vehicle we design and build will be based on this patent," Neal said. "It means we’re free to develop practical flying vehicles without infringing on patent rights of other inventors." A two-place flying car version is also being developed.

"I also have plans for a larger vehicle that a whole family will be able to ride in, fly, drive it home and park it in the garage. I think this is going to change everything," said Neal.

Neal said he was granted U.S. Patent No. 6,978,969 on Dec. 27, 2005 and the next day he successfully test-flew the new folding rotor blades. He said his patent covers a "fly-drive vehicle" with a folding rotor shaft and a transmission to power either the drive propeller or wheels.

"The problem with flying cars in the past was what to do with the wings once you were on the ground," said Neal. "With a fly-drive gyroplane, you just fold the rotor blades up and drive on down the road."

"Using rotor blades for the wings of a flying car makes the fly-drive Super Sky Cycle a new kind of vehicle." Neal said. "There’s nothing else like it, a gyroplane that can fly at freeway speeds, land in 20 feet, be driven home as a motorcycle, and that you can park in your garage."

Neal recently demonstrated the Super Sky Cycle in both flying and driving modes at the Experimental Aircraft Association’s "Sun’n Fun" fly-in at Lakeland, FL in April.

Neal was born in Crossville in 1951. At an early age he was intrigued with flying machines and planned to be a pilot when he grew up. While working his way through college as a mechanical engineering student, he was selling books door to door for the third summer and was sent to Fort Worth, Texas in 1973. It was there that he bought his first flying machine and learned how to fly it. That fall he said he flew a Bensen B8M gyrocopter all over Cumberland County, Tennessee.

While living on the Cumberland Plateau in beautiful eastern Tennessee, he built his first two-place gyroplane and installed a Porsche engine on it during the summer of 1978.

"Nobody ever thought to try it or did try it. My concept of developing a flying vehicle has always been the opposite. I've always had the idea in my mind that you would need to take a flying machine and come up with a way to drive it on the ground — not take a car and put wings on it," Neal said.

In 1984 Neal started thinking of actually building a flying car and ten years later started manufacturing parts that would be critical to the project. A propeller speed reduction unit (PSRU) was put into production. A gyroplane based flying car was naturally his choice for the flying part as Neal says it is safe and will not stall if you get too slow.

"A gyroplane will float down slower than a parachute with the engine turned off and land in a very small spot with the pilot in complete control," Neal said.

A parachute system was also designed for the flying car that will let the whole aircraft and passengers down in an emergency situation.

One recent safety feature on his aircrafts is the new G-Force Landing Gear that has a parallelogram strut system and long stroke that has been tested to absorb over 700-feet of vertical descent all the way to the ground without damage to the vehicle or injury to the pilot.

Neal has also been the chief test pilot for CarterCopters since September of 2001. History was made on June 17, 2005 when the team breached the Mu-1 barrier.

In all of his adventures, accomplishments and inventions, Neal gives credit to God.

"I talk to God everyday. One night He showed me how to do it in a dream," said Neal. "That was how I got the vision of the fold-up rotary blade. That changed everything and once I got that figured out, I knew I had it."

Neal says his invention is only in its early stages.

"This model is like the Model-T. It's a basic model to start with at the beginning. This is just going to grow and expand from here. It won't be too long and people are going to be talking about personal air vehicles. This is just the start," said Neal.

"We are so excited about this and really proud of him," said Neal's sister Linda Tabor.

Tabor is an eighth grade teacher at Martin Elementary. Other family members of Neal's who live in Crossville include his parents, Huel and Hattie Neal; brothers, Charles, Gary and Mike Neal; and grandfather, Luther Neal. Larry also has a sister, Carol Carney, who lives in Cookeville.