Another ebay find, this one depicts the HLH transporting cargo from a ship to shore. It appears to be constructing storage tanks, presumably for oil or water, from prefabricated sections.
Aug 162018
Aug 122018
A photo of a 1960’s Bell Helicopter concept for a high-speed tiltrotor. In this design the aircraft would operate in hover and low speed much like the V-22, but at higher speeds the prop-rotors would stop rotating and fold back to reduce drag. Forward thrust would be provided by pure jet exhaust from the convertible turboshaft engines within the fuselage.
I have uploaded high-rez scans of the color glossy photo to the 2018-08 APR Extras folder on Dropbox for APR Patrons at the $4 level and up.
If you are interested in this image and a great many other “extras” and monthly aerospace history rewards, please sign up for the APR Patreon. What else are you going to spend $4 a month on? Taxes? Bah. Invest in the APR Patreon instead.
Aug 102018
A piece of Boeing Heavy Lift Helicopter artwork that was on ebay a while back. The XCH-62 HLH was an early 1970’s concept cancelled in ’74. The first prototype was under construction when cancelled; NASA tried to revive and finish the prototype in the 80’s, but got nowhere. The prototype was controversially turned into garbage at the US Army Aviation Museum in 2005. This was *not* a popular decision. nor was cancelling the thing in the first place; had it been built it would have had the ability to lift 22.5 tons.
This illustration shows it carrying a standard shipping container from a cargo vessel to shore. The container seems to contain fuel; it’s being used to refuel a Boeing Vertol UH-61, a design which competed against- and lost to – the Sikorsky S-60 Black Hawk.
Jun 302018
In just under the wire for June, 2018 are the rewards for APR Patreon patrons. Included this month:
- A sizable January, 1945 technical description of the YP-80 “Shooting Star” by Lockheed. 300 or so pages, filled with illustrations of the aircraft and components.
- “On The Utility of the Moon in Space Transportation: the Lunatron Concept.” A 1963 NASA concept for using an electromagnetic accelerator to hurl payloads from the lunar surface onto high energy trajectories, up to solar system escape.
- A scan of a large-format Sikorsky lithograph of an ABC (advancing blade concept) VTOL airliner (basically a 727 fuselage turned into a high-speed helicopter).
- An all-new CAD diagram of the Soviet Chelomei LKS spaceplane with an inboard profile showing the military (nuclear bombardment) payload. The first in a series on the LKS.
If you are interested in helping to preserve (and get copies of) this sort of thing, consider signing up for the APR Patreon.
May 012018
Artwork was created for USBP 21 by Rob Parthoens depicting the Convair Submersible Nuclear Ramjet launching vertically from the ocean. This is approximately the craziest design for a manned aircraft I’ve seen from the post-war period.
Be sure to check out US Bomber Projects issue 21 to read more about this design.
Apr 292018
Artwork was created for USBP 21 by Rob Parthoens depicting the Convair Submersible Nuclear Ramjet paying a visit to 1970’s-era Moscow. If you think that this looks like Project Pluto, you’re not far off; this was also a Mach 4, treetop-level nuclear ramjet powered bomber. But there were a few minor differences. Notice that little bump above the nose? That’s the cockpit, a necessary addition because this design was manned. It was also designed to operate as a submarine, cruising the oceans of the world faster than 100 knots before launching upwards and taking flight. Because the 1950’s were rather more optimistic when it came to technological advancement.
Be sure to check out US Bomber Projects issue 21 to read more about this design.
Apr 292018
Rewards have been issued to APR Patreon patrons for April, 2018. This month, the “Diagram” is a Sikorsky lithograph of a Heavy Lift Helicopter concept. The Documents include a US Army catalog of airborne weaponry; a paper describing possible additional missions for the Saturn launch vehicles, and BOAC brochure extolling the virtues of the Comet 4 jetliner. The CAD diagram is of the British Interplanetary Society’s “Deadalus” starship design.
If you are interested in helping to preserve (and get copies of) this sort of thing, consider signing up for the APR Patreon.
Apr 112018
Some old-school animation showing the AH-56 as a recon and targeting vehicle being used in Someplace Much Like Viet Nam. If you’re at all like me, you’ll watch this and think, “I don’t recall this episode of Jonny Quest.”
Feb 182018
A few decades before the “X-Wing” configuration gained a measure of popularity, Hughes Tool Company made a detailed study of a somewhat similar concept, the “rotor/wing.” This was a three-bladed helicopter rotor attached to a large central lifting surface, either a circular disk or a triangular structure. The rotor was not turned the conventional way with a turbine engine turning a drive shaft, but instead the engine exhaust was ducted through the center and then out to nozzles at the tips of the rotors. Jet thrust would spin the rotors without transmitting torque to the rest of the vehicles; as a consequence only a small tail rotor would be needed, just powerful enough to orient the craft at low airspeeds.
A few configurations were produced, most of which looking much the same. Probably the most well known configuration was shown in US VTOL Projects 01. Shown below is a lesser-known configuration designed for anti-submarine use. Normally the configurations included the turbojet engines within the upper fuselage, close to the hub of the rotor, but this one rather bizarrely put the engines on the tail. No obvious means of ducting the exhaust to the rotor is evident, so presumably a third (or even fourth) engine was tucked into the fuselage somewhere.
Feb 132018
Now available: two new US Aerospace Projects issues. Cover art was provided by Rob Parthoens, www.baroba.be
US VTOL Projects #2
US VTOL Projects #2 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #2 includes:
- SOS Interceptor: A US Navy Mach 3 aircraft with jettisonable wings
- Lockheed GL-224-3: A small battlefield surveillance and ground attack plane
- Phalanx Dragon MP-18: An unconventional small civilian transport
- Lockheed L-161-1: An early concept for a variable geometry roadable helicopter
- GE Supersonic V/STOL: A supersonic strike fighter with flip-out lift fans
- Convair ANP-VTOL: A nuclear-powered ground-effect craft of the Navy of unusual configuration
- Piasecki 16H-3: A compound helicopter for high speed passenger transport
- Boeing Vertol Model 147: A tilt-wing close support fire support design for the US Army
USVP #2 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4:
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US Research & Recon Projects #2
US Research & Recon Projects #2 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #2 includes:
- Lockheed A-1: The first true design leading to the SR-71
- Bell MX-2147 Model 105: The high altitude “X-16”
- Boeing/CRC/AMROC X-34 Reference Configuration: A reusable launcher test vehicle
- Martin Model 159: A scout/observation float plane
- NASA-Langley Low-Boom Demonstrator: a recent design to demonstrate quiet SST tech
- McDonnell-Douglas DC-9 Super 80 Propfan Configuration 1: A fuel efficient transport demo
- Convair “HAZEL” MC-10: An inflatable Mach 3 plane for the Navy
- Republic Manned Hypersonic Reconnaissance Vehicle: an early scramjet concept
USRP #2 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4:
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