Cylinder-Winged Aircraft Portent Of The Future

The subject of this article in the February 1934 issue of Popular Science, posted on Modern Mechanix, is an early attempt at the "ducted fan" combined with a "tilt rotor" concept of aircraft propulsion.  The USMC Bell Boing V-22 Osprey is a current operational example of a tilt rotor aircraft, minus the ducts.  Although the Navy apparently experimented with a four engined ducted fan/tilt rotor aircraft in the 1960's, the combined concepts have yet to catch on.