Charles Joseph Fletcher

Charles Joseph Fletcher (December 21, 1922 – April 20, 2011) was an American inventor and the owner and chief executive of an aeronautical equipment manufacturing and engineering company, Technology General Corporation, in Franklin, New Jersey.

While a naval aviator he came up with the idea of the "Glidemobile", a vehicle using air for support.

Fletcher earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from New York University in 1950.

[2] He was the president of Technology General Corporation, a small ($2 million annual revenue) manufacturer of drawn metal products, spray coating systems, power mixers, and commercial ice crushing equipment.

A contributor to the X-15 rocket, Fletcher also worked on the test version of the Apollo Lunar Module, and holds seventeen aeronautical patents on vertical lift and rocket engines.

One of Fletcher's inventions: the Glidemobile , arguably the world's first hovercraft, in the Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum of New Jersey .