By Dottie Evans

Some leave home to see the world. Some see the world and make it their home.

—New York Times writer William Hamilton, speaking of Robert Fulton's 18-month motorcycle journey around the globe in 1932.

Robert Edison Fulton, Jr, an adventurer, sculptor, visionary poet, and innovative thinker credited with inventing air safety and rescue devices that may have saved countless lives from World War II to the Gulf War, died Friday, May 7, at his Newtown home.

His death was announced by his son Rawn Fulton of Bernardston, Mass. Another son, Travis Fulton, of Snowmass, Colo., also survives him. He was preceded in death in 2002 by his son Robert E. Fulton III.

The many accomplishments that marked Robert Fulton’s long life and the almost limitless reach of his imagination even into his 90s are well documented. Yet Newtown residents may not have been aware of this Indiana Jones-like figure living in their midst.

Always eager to share art and ideas, Mr Fulton had exhibited his black-and-white landscape photography at the Cyrenius Booth Library; he had invited schoolchildren to visit the 2,200-foot airstrip on his property and see the P51 Mustang that he flew upside down over the Southwestern desert to take the photographs ("I didn't want the wings to get in the way"); and he hosted book signings for those interested in reading his two books, One Man Caravan and The Long Journey Home.

But most of those who drove winding Orchard Hill Road past his 50-acre property or who caught a glimpse in his fields of the several large sculptures, both whimsical and monumental, that he had created, had no clue about the scope of this man's life.

Around The World In 18 Months (By Motorcycle)

Robert E. Fulton, Jr, was born in New York City on April 15, 1909. While he was still a boy, his father, who was president of the Mack Truck Company, gave him the run of the machine shops. His grandfather on his mother's side had established a cross-country stagecoach line that eventually became the Greyhound bus company.

Whether or not he is truly descended from American steamship engineer Robert Fulton has been a much-debated topic, but there is no denying that in spirit, he shared the genius of a long line of inventive thinkers.

Early on, he acquired a love of adventure and discovery accompanying his parents in their travels. He was said to have been a passenger on the first commercial air flight from Miami to Havana in 1921, and he was among the onlookers in 1923 when British archaeologist Howard Carter opened King Tut's tomb in Egypt.

After attending school in Lausanne, Switzerland, he went on to Exeter and Choate and graduated from Harvard with a degree in architecture. He earned a master's degree in architecture from the University of Vienna in 1932.

It was then that Robert Fulton, 23, climbed on board his Douglas ’32 motorcycle and embarked upon an 18-month journey around the world. He had planned to photograph architecture but soon found himself chronicling the sights on his Bell & Howell 35mm movie camera –– having rigged the camera with a ten-second delay so that he could be in the picture.

His descriptions of his adventures and the people he met along the way became the basis of his first book, One Man Caravan, published in 1937.

Upon returning home to the United States, Robert Fulton took up flying airplanes and logged more than 25,000 hours. He only gave up the avocation at the age of 88 when he said his deafness prevented him from hearing the traffic controllers.

The Airphibian: A Flying Car

As World War II approached, Robert Fulton's genius for invention led him into the war effort. His Gunnairestructor developed in 1939 for gunnery training in the Navy was the precursor of today's flight simulators.

The Airphibian was born of his desire to create a multipurpose craft that could carry him over great distances to remote airbases and then be used for ground transport as well. It was successfully tested in 1945. Part plane, part car, the Airphibian was capable of flying at 110 miles per hour and driving at 55 miles per hour when the rear fuselage, wings and propeller were disengaged.

By this time, Robert Fulton had bought property in Newtown and also had purchased land nearby Danbury airport to develop his magnificent flying machine. Although he was never able to make the Airphibian a commercial success, it holds an important place in the history of flight. A prototype is on exhibit as part of the collection of the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

In 1952, Robert Fulton invented the Skyhook, long-range air-sea rescue system that is credited for saving many lives in the Navy and Air Force over a 40-year span.

The Seasled in 1963 was used for recovery of Navy Underwater Demolition Teams.

A Lifetime Of Stories To Tell The Grandchildren

Besides his two sons, Robert Fulton is survived by ten grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

The many photographs, poems, and journals of his later years — not to mention his airplanes, sculptures, and other inventions he kept on the Newtown property — were the basis of stories he would tell them when they visited.

His niece, Florence Rawn Harding, reached by phone Tuesday in New York City, recalled knowing the family during the 1940s and later.

"I grew up in Greenwich and then lived in Florida. On trips north we would come to Newtown to visit. I remember the house. It was so attractive and they kept improving on it. The back yard was full of flowers and there was this airstrip," she said.

"I visited my cousin Bobby Fulton [Robert Fulton, III]. It was such an incredible family. They were all remarkably bright. Robert Fulton's wife [Florence Coburn] was my mother's sister," she said.

"I was born around the same time Uncle Bob had his famous motorcycle trip. I remember he was larger than life. He was fascinating and handsome, of another generation. He had the most incredible face and penetrating blue eyes. He was 100 percent alive," she added, saying he seemed always to live intensely in the present.

Robert Fulton was first married in 1935 to Florence Coburn with whom he had three sons. She died in 1996. Mr Fulton's second wife, Anne Boireau Smith, died in 2002.

Cremation took place at the convenience of the family. A memorial service to be held at a later date will be announced.