Boeing Model 767-85M

 hi-rez, jetliner, Monthly Historical Documents Program, Patreon, transports  No Responses »
Apr 122019
 

A Boeing diagram of the Model 767-85M, a pre-767 jetliner concept from 1971 designed to cruise at Mach 0.98. In order to achieve that, the design was massively aerodynamically optimized for transonic efficiency… with “wasp-waiting” taken to something of an extreme. The aircraft would have been fuel efficient at high (but still subsonic) speed, but would have been a nightmare to manufacture.

I’ve made the full-rez scan of this large format diagram available to above-$10-subscribers to the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program/Patreon.

If this sort of thing is of interest, consider subscribing. Even a buck a month will help out; but the more you subscribe for, the more you get… and the more you help me get from eBay and save for the ages.

 

 Posted by at 7:50 pm

Lockheed L-2000 SST mockup photos

 jetliner, Monthly Historical Documents Program, Patreon, transports  No Responses »
Mar 222019
 

Last year a number of photos of the Lockheed L-2000 SST concept were sold on eBay. I didn’t get them, but the auctions came complete with some decent (not great) resolution scans of the photos. I have uploaded seven photos to the 2019-03 APR Extras Dropbox folder, available to $4 and up subscribers to the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.

 Posted by at 6:46 pm

Lockheed L-2000 SST: exploded view

 hi-rez, jetliner, Monthly Historical Documents Program, transports  No Responses »
Feb 062019
 

Lockheed’s entry into the FAA’s 1960’s Supersonic Transport contest was the L-2000. It was an appealing design, sort of a super-sized and angular Concorde. it lost to the Boeing 2707 due in no small part to the 2707’s swing wings… wings which wound up being fixed, like those of the L-2000.

In 1965 Lockheed released an exploded view of the L-2000’s structure, reproduced in Aviation Week, split across two pages. I took the images and fixed them; the full-size end result is pretty spiffy. I have uploaded the illustration, and two additional L-2000 images to the 2019-02 APR Extras Dropbox folder, available to $4 and up subscribers to the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.

 Posted by at 9:01 pm

Airport Spotting in the Era of SSTs

 jetliner, transports  No Responses »
Nov 222018
 

The SST designs of the 1960’s are hardly unknown. But what’s generally not well understood is that designs such as the Boeing 2707 were *huge.* This was considered necessary because SSTs with fuselage lengths in line with existing jetliners – such as the Concorde – would have small passenger capacities due to the need for the fuselages to be *very* narrow compared to their lengths. This, as Concorde showed, was a great way to build an extremely cost-ineffective fuel hog.

So the 2707 would be terribly long and pointy, with a geometry quite a bit unlike regular jetliners. A practical concern is “how do we deal with these things at airports?” If nothing else, the long pointed nose of the SST would put the passenger door considerably further aft than for a conventional rounded-nose jetliners. So, like the 747 and the A380, it was assumed that the larger airports would have to make some infrastructure modifications in order to deal with these new beasts.

The illustration below, from a 1967 issue of Aviation Week, shows American Airlines thinking about the airports of the future. Note that the 2707 is pulled in far closer than the other craft, with the tip of t’s very pointed nose just a few feet away from the building while the others are notably further away. The SST is being serviced by two extendable jetways at maximum extension, while most of the other planes seem to be getting along with just one jetway… though one of the 747s is using four. Note that even though the 747 isn’t pulled in quite as far as the 2707, the SST nonetheless projects much further out into the airfield. For some airports this could well have meant that the taxiways would have been a cluttered mess.

 Posted by at 12:45 pm

New: US Fighter, Transport, Launcher, Recon & Research Projects

 fighter, hypersonic, jetliner, launch vehicles, nukes, Recon, research, rockets, space shuttle, spacecraft, spaceplane, transports, US Fighter Projects, US Launcher Projects, US Recon & Research Projects, US Transport Projects  No Responses »
Nov 072018
 

Now available… four new issues in the US Aerospace Projects line.

US Fighter Projects #3

Cover art was provided by Rob Parthoens, www.baroba.be

US Fighter Projects #03 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #3 includes:

  • Vought Advanced Interceptor AI-0604R: a dart-winged ejector ramjet-powered concept
  • Convair Nuclear Powered Interceptor Configuration I: a single0seat interceptor with a nuclear reactor
  • General Dynamics F-111X-7: A stretched F-111 for bomber escort and interception
  • Bell Ramjet Fighter: A subsonic small fighter from the end of WWII
  • Convair XP-92: A post-war delta-winged ramjet powered supersonic interceptor
  • Rockwell D736-4 Supersonic Penetrator: the wings could sweep back entirely within the fuselage
  • Lockheed CL-362-2: A high-altitude hypersonic rocketplane
  • NASA-Langley TBF-1: an unusual supercruiser

 

 

 

USFP #3 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:

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US Launch Vehicle Projects #5

Cover art was provided by Rob Parthoens, www.baroba.be

US Launch Vehicle Projects #5 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #5 includes:

  • North American Aviation 600K SSTO: an early concept for cheap space launch
  • Boeing “Windjammer” SSTO: A horizontal takeoff design form the early 70s
  • JSC Winged Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle: A giant SPS launcher
  • NASA Nova “Saturn C-8”: an early Apollo booster
  • Lockheed Reusable Ten-Ton Orbital Carrier: A logistics system from the early 60s
  • Chrysler Hot Air Balloon S-IB: An unusual approach to booster recovery
  • MSC Orbiter 042A Titan IIIL6: A shuttle design with a delta-winged orbiter on an enlarged Titan
  • General Dynamics Model 202: a preliminary design for a Brilliant Pebbles launcher

 

 

USLP #5 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:

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US Recon & Research Projects #3

Cover art was provided by Rob Parthoens, www.baroba.be

US Recon & Research Projects #3 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #3 includes:

  • Lockheed A-2: An early design leading to the SR-71
  • Boeing NuERA 747: A nuclear powered 747
  • General Dynamics SX-109 “Pathfinder”: a subscale SSTO demonstrator
  • Northrop N-165: A giant U-2 alternate
  • Convair M-125: A high altitude/speed single seat recon plane with toxic fuel
  • Bell AMST STOL Prototype: A heavily modified C-130
  • Convair Nuclear AEW: unmanned, nuclear powered VTOL fleet defense recon platform
  • Boeing Model 818-300: an early 60s battlefield surveillance platform

 

 

 

USRP #3 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:

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US Transport Projects #8

Cover art was provided by Rob Parthoens, www.baroba.be

US Transport Projects #8 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #8 includes:

  • NACA SST: a 1947 concept
  • Boeing CX-HLS: Boeings design for what became the C-5
  • Bell Operational Medium STOL Transport: vectored thrust for short takeoff
  • Convair Limited War Amphibian: A concept for a single plan to meet both land and sea plane requirements
  • Bell Hypersonic Transport 1980-1990:A two-stage turboramjet/rocket concept
  • Lockheed Hybrid Wing Body 757PF-Sized Freighter: a recent design for an advanced transport
  • Lear Liner Model 40:a small airliner/large executive transport
  • Boeing Model 759-153A Resource Carrier: A big flying wing natural gas “tanker”

 

USTP #8 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:

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 Posted by at 10:41 pm

Lockheed L-2000 Mockup

 hi-rez, jetliner, Patreon, transports  No Responses »
Sep 252018
 

The Lockheed L-2000 was a Mach 3 SST designed to compete against the Boeing 2707 in the mid 1960’s. It was an elegant and classy looking design, but was passed over by the US Government in favor of the Boeing design. Lockheed built a full scale and reasonably convincing mockup of the craft, using it for both study and PR purposes.

The L-2000 looked like nothing quite so much as a cross between the Concorde and the SR-71.

A full rez scan of the 8X10 glossy has been uploaded to the 2018-09 APR Extras folder on Dropbox for APR Patreon patrons at the $4 level and above. If this sort of thing is of interest, please consider signing up for the APR Patreon.

patreon-200

 

 Posted by at 2:14 am

June 2018 APR Patreon Rewards

 bomber, fighter, hi-rez, hypersonic, jetliner, launch vehicles, nukes, Patreon, rockets, space shuttle, spacecraft, spaceplane, VTOL  No Responses »
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.

 

patreon-200

 

 Posted by at 11:38 am

Boeing Hypersonic Airliner

 future projects, hypersonic, jetliner, transports  No Responses »
Jun 262018
 

Faster Than Concorde: Boeing Hypersonic Jet Concept Would Cross Atlantic In 2 Hours

Boeing revealed artwork of a hypersonic transport at an AIAA conference in Atlanta. Capable of Mach 5, Boeing suggests that they could build this aircraft soon… in as little as 20 or 30 years.

Not a whole lot of detail on this one as yet. And given that the claim is “thirty years in the future,” chances are that this design is little more than artwork. The fuselage is pretty generic (although those are some big windows for a Mach 5 aircraft), but the wings and stabilizers (and apparent engine nacelles) are taken from previous Boeing designs stretching back to the 70’s.

 

 

 Posted by at 11:30 am
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