Nov 012022
 

The October 2022 rewards are available for APR Patrons and Subscribers. This latest package includes:

Large format art: A Bell Aerospace painting of the D188A VTOL fighter/bomber

Document: “Standard Aircraft Characteristics – Convair Class VF Seaplane Night Fighter (SKATE)” diagrams and data for seaplane jet fighter

Document: “21St Century Aerospace – The 20th Century Challenge,” General Dynamics presentation, late 80’s about hypersonics/NASP. From photographs.

Document: “Prototype X-14 VTOL Aircraft,” Bell Aerospace presentation, 1971, on the “SeaKat” operational naval VTOL. From photos, but art and diagrams were also scanned for clarity.

CAD Diagram ($5 and up): XB-70 Valkyrie forward fuselage configuration

 

If you would like to help fund the acquisition and preservation of such things, along with getting high quality scans for yourself, please consider signing on either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program. Back issues are available for purchase by patrons and subscribers.




 Posted by at 12:23 am
Oct 252022
 

Bell artwork circa 1983 depicting the proposed JVX tiltrotor, which would become the V-22 Osprey. The cockpit and the sponsons display the greatest obvious differences from the aircraft that would eventually be built, but the design seems to be largely just about there.

 

 Posted by at 2:56 pm
Oct 182022
 

Here’s a look at Book 4. Some of the diagrams I do are completed in just a few hours. Some take considerably longer… several to many man-days, sometimes spread out over months as I dial in details. This one was sort of mid-range. The most complex and time consuming are typically the diagrams of aircraft that were actually built… those have to be accurate, and more details are available. This one is of an unbuilt aircraft that is reasonably well documented, but was a configuration that was in a constant state of design flux.

 Posted by at 12:50 pm
Oct 142022
 

A circa 1983 illustration of the Bell JVX tiltrotor concept, folded for storage aboard an aircraft carrier. The JVX would be developed into the V-22 Osprey. The differences between this concept and the final vehicle are relatively minor, with the sponsons on the side, shape of the nose and apparently less-lifted tail being the most obvious.

 Posted by at 7:28 pm
Oct 122022
 

I’m at work on a new series of CAD diagrams (see HERE for the first run) to be released as PDFs formatted for printing at 18X24. For example, here are first drafts of a few:

  • Boeing Space Sortie (3 sheets)
  • Saturn C-8/Nova
  • Jules Verne’s “Columbiad”
  • A-12 Avenger II (2 sheets)
  • Lockheed CL-400 “Suntan”

All of these require a bit more dressing-up, as well as explanatory text. But I think they’re starting to look pretty good.

 

 

I’ve selected a fair number more to work on. If any of these are of particular interest, or if any of the many, many diagrams I’ve made over the years would be of interest, let me know.

  • BIS “Daedalus” straship
  • Rockwell MRCC
  • Northrop Tacit Blue
  • Space Shuttle Main Engine
  • Boeing Bird of Prey
  • General Atomic 86-foot Orion
  • General Atomic Orion battleship
  • General Atomic 10-meter Orion
  • Martin SeaMistress
  • Space Launch System
  • Have Sting orbital railgun
  • Casaba Howitzer
  • X-20 Dyna Soar
  • B-47E
  • DB-47E/Bold Orion
  • DB-47E/RASCAL
  • B-52G
  • B-52H
  • B-52H/Skybolt
  • Boeing Space Freighter
  • Boeing Big Onion
  • Shuttle C
  • Rockwell Star Raker
  • Lockheed STAR Clipper
  • Lockheed SR-71
  • Lockheed A-12 (early canards)
  • Lockheed A-12
  • Lockheed A-12 (honeycomb panels)
  • Lockheed A-12 “Titanium Goose”
  • Lockheed YF-12A
  • Lockheed M-21/D-21
  • Lockheed AP-12
  • Republic YF-103
  • North American XF-108
  • Bell MX-2147
  • Convair Kingfish
 Posted by at 8:43 pm
Oct 092022
 

Found in ridiculously low resolution online, this chart purports to provide data on a number of early-2000’s unmanned air vehicles. If it’s accurate, it provides good dimensional data for the Northrop and Lockheed UCAR programs, data I’ve not seen elsewhere. But I can’t confirm the accuracy of this. it appears to have been scanned from a physical original… perhaps a brochure, a meeting paper, a magazine article. Anyone?

 Posted by at 9:54 pm
Sep 182022
 

A mid-1960’s North American Aviation concept for a sorta-lifting body spacecraft that would use deployable rotors for landing. Functioning as an autogyro, these rotors would be a more controllable alternative to a parachute, in principle allowing fairly pinpoint runway touchdowns. I had cause to go looking for information on this recently; i was fairly certain that I had a few reports on the subject, but could not find them. Grrr.

A few photos I found online a few years ago of a display model, presumably originating from an auction website such as ebay:

 Posted by at 5:43 pm
Sep 062022
 

I looked through a small fraction of my surprisingly vast pile of CAD diagrams for some I thought might look good in really large format. Some I’ve gone some distance towards formatting them that way already; some are still formatted for small sheets. There are more, of course. In no particular order.

Lockheed CL-400 “Suntan”

Lockheed M-21/D-21:

Lockheed A-12:

Lockheed SR-71A:

Lockheed YF-12A:

X-20 Dyna Soar/Titan III:

A number of 10-Meter Orion vehicles/sub-vehicles:

USAF 10-meter Orion:

General Dynamics “Kingfish:”

North American XF-108:

Lockheed A-12 concept w/canards:

Boeing B-47E:

Boeing B-52G:

Boeing B-52H:

Boeing B-52H + Skybolt:

Boeing DB-47E + Bold Orion:

Rockwell Star Raker:

Boeing “Big Onion” SSTO:

Boeing Space Freighter:

NASA Saturn C-8:

Lockheed STAR Clipper:

 

 

 Posted by at 3:55 pm