fabricated, and not ready until after the war had ended. The problems with tracks and running gear were still not sorted out, and development halted. America had observed the Canadian effort, but saw no advantages, compared to the M29'Weasel' Tracked Cargo Carrier. Flying jeep The most extreme concept tried was to turn the jeep into a rotor kite (or gyrokite), similar to an autogyro – the Hafner Rotabuggy (officially Malcolm Rotaplane). Designed by Raoul Hafner in 1942 and sponsored by the Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment (AFEE), after their Rotachute enjoyed some success, a passive rotor assembly was added over the jeep cabin, along with a lightweight tail, for stabilization. This jeep could be towed into the air by a transport or bomber tug. The Rotabuggy would then be towed to the drop zone as a rotary-wing glider. It took until autumn 1944 to achieve a decent test flight, and other military gliders, particularly the Waco Hadrian and Airspeed Horsa) made the Rotabuggy superfluous. Incidentally, it was first named the "Blitz Buggy", but that was soon dropped for "Rotabuggy". Etymology There is no consensus among historians as to how the U.S. Army's World War II quarter-ton reconnaissance car became known as the "jeep", let alone how the word originated in the first place. Explanations have proven difficult to verify. With certainty, the term "jeep" was already in use before the war, designating various things, while the -ton jeeps at first had many different designations and nicknames. Eugene the Jeep and prior usage of "jeep" According to several knowledgeable authors, the word "jeep" was used well before World War II; career soldiers used it since World War I – both as casual U.S. Army slang for new, uninitiated recruits or other personnel who still had to prove their mettle, as well as used by Army motor pool mechanics, about any new, unproven vehicles or prototypes. Zaloga also describes use as an adjective: "jeepy," similar to 'cooky' or 'goofy,' to mean anything insignificant, silly, awkward or foolish. Later, in mid-March 1936, a character called Eugene the Jeep was created in E. C. Segar's Popeye cartoons. Eugene the Jeep was Popeye's "jungle pet" and was small, able to walk through walls and move between dimensions, and could go anywhere and solve seemingly impossible problems. The Eugene cartoon character brought new meaning to the Jeep name, diverging from the initial, somewhat pejorative meaning of the