> The use of EHD propulsion for lift was studied by American aircraft designer Major Alexander Prokofieff de Seversky in the 1950s and 1960s. He filed a patent for an "ionocraft" in 1959. He built and flew a model VTOL ionocraft capable of sideways manoeuvring by varying the voltages applied in different areas, although the heavy power supply remained external.
https://archive.org/details/VictoryThroughAirPower
Edit to add: Here's the Wikipedia page about Victory Through Air Power
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Through_Air_Power
From the page:
Filmmaker Walt Disney read the book, and felt that its message was so important that he would personally finance a partly-animated short, also called Victory Through Air Power, which was released in July 1943.[3] Disney's purpose for creating the film was to promote Seversky's theories to government officials and the public. After seeing the film, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt decided that Seversky knew what he was talking about, changing the course of the war.
Very cool to see though, you can make this at home with a very basic high voltage generator and a set of needles.
Here's another design for DIY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGq7LfjDyZM