1) Fancraft™ look a lot like the ‘flying jeeps‘ from the 60‘s. What happened to them?

Yes, Frank Piasecki and the Piasecki Company, who were the pioneers of the 'flying jeep' design, were the real visionaries when it comes to ducted-fan, VTOL aircraft.  Unfortunately, Piasecki's vision was far ahead of the technology available at the time to make it happen.  Basic aerospace technologies such as efficient, lightweight engines, advanced composite materials, advanced sensors and flight control computers simply didn't exist.  Without them, it's impossible to make a safe  'ducted-fan' design that can fulfill a reasonable mission.  The 'flying jeeps' had a total flight endurance of 20 minutes (with no reserve!), a top speed of 40 knots and were extremely difficult to control in gusty wind conditions. Moreover, turbine powered helicopters were being developed at the same time and had begun to prove their value during the Vietnam conflict.  As a result, all work on the early ‘flying jeeps’ was essentially abandoned and VTOL development focused on helicopters.