Apr 172016
 

Now available: two new US Aerospace Projects titles.

US Bomber Projects #18

US Bomber Projects #18 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #18 includes:

  • Boeing Model 726-13: A nuclear pwoered bomber with the cockpit in the tail
  • Martin Model 164: A pre-war high altitude twin-tailed bomber
  • North American WS-110A: An early concept for what became the B-70, with “floating wingtips”
  • Convair MX-1593: An Early, large five-engined Atlas ICBM concept
  • Boeing Model 701-299-1: The final XB-59 supersonic bomber design
  • Boeing Model 464-72: A B-52 with pusher turboprops
  • Boeing F-15GSE Global Strike Eagle: An unmanned F-15 with a giant missile on its back General Dynamics – Light Weight Attack Configuration 29: An advanced ground attacker with vectored thrust

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USBP #18 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:

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US Transport Projects #6

US Transport Projects #06 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #06 includes:

  • Lockheed CL-408-15: An early Mach 3 SST
  • Lockheed L-155-4: A very early 8-engine jetliner
  • Boeing Model 754-4V: A very-wide-bodied cargo hauler for Husky
  • Gates Learjet PD1502A: A four-seater with a turbofan
  • Convair Comet Seaplane: An American idea for turning a British jetliner into Flying Boat
  • Lockheed Twin C-5 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft: Two C-5’s mated together to carry a Shuttle between them
  • Boeing Model 765-096 Rev A “SUGAR Volt”: A hybrid jetliner
  • CRC HOT EAGLE – Super Global Troop Transport: Finally, hard data on a rocket transport for Special Forces and Marines

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USTP #06 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:

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And don’t forget…

US Fighter Projects #1 and US VTOL Projects #1 are still new and still available!

 Posted by at 10:42 pm
Feb 232016
 

In the early 1970s, after the collapse of the SST program due to, in part, the rise in energy prices, Boeing, Lockheed, General Dynamics and NASA looked at the possibility of jetliners designed to fly economically right at the edge of the sound barrier. The idea was that there is an unavoidable spike in drag at Mach 1.00, but it would theoretically be possible to fly at, say, Mach 0.98 at relatively low drag. This would make the aircraft about 100 mph faster than conventional jetliners without being much more expensive. In order to pull this off, the jetliners would need to take advantage of every imaginable aerodynamic trick in the book… most obviously, area rule designing resulting in “wasp waisted” fuselages, and almost no straight lines… all curves. The problem is that this makes aircraft heavier and more expensive to build. Thus, no transonic airliners ever got any further than wind tunnel tests.

Below is a piece of Boeing art showing one of their designs for an Advanced Technology Transport. It was a Model 767 design, dash-number unknown.

transonic 767

 Posted by at 11:45 pm
Jan 232016
 

USSP #04

US Spacecraft Projects #04, the Lander Special is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #04 includes:

  • GE Electrically Propelled Cargo Vehicle: A lunar lander with a nuclear reactor and ion engines to reduce the cost of lunar logistics
  • Douglas LASS: Landing an S-IVb stage on the moon
  • Convair PLAME: VTOL crew return with jet engines
  • North American Mars Excursion Module: the iconic conical Mars lander
  • Martin-Marietta Ballistic NIMF: A nuclear “hopper”
  • Early LEM: One of the first recognizable designs, by Maxime Faget
  • ROMBUS: probably the largest lunar lander seriously proposed
  • Boeing Lander Module 2: A recent Mars crew lander

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USSP #04 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $5.25:

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USTP #05

US Transport Projects #05 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #05 includes:

  • Boeing Model 820-100: The B-52 can haul more than bombs…
  • Lockheed Nuclear Tug: Want to tow two C-5s across an ocean?
  • Martin Super Ocean Transport: A WWII-era design for a post-war giant passenger transport
  • HOT EAGLE: 13 Marines to Benghazi in minutes
  • Sikorsky SST: An early supersonic transport concept
  • Lifting Body Cargo Airplane: A wartime design for a multibody design with a separate cargo module
  • Resource Air Carrier: A giant “flying pipeline” to haul petroleum
  • Boeing Model 763-165: A side-by-side New Large Airplane design

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USTP #05 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:

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AND don’t forget these…

 

USLP 03

Issue 03 of US Launch Vehicle Projects includes:

  • Juno V/Titan/Nomad: A 1958 concept for a space launcher using an ICBM for upper stages
  • Convair ATE Nova: A 1963 idea for winged airbreathing boosters
  • B-70/Gemini: Using a bomber as a booster
  • Phase II VTOHL Orbit-On-Demand: a 1985 concept for a relatively small two stage to orbit spaceplane
  • NASA Lewis Saturn Ib/Centaur/Kick Stage: a high energy upper stage
  • NASA MSC 042B/Titan IIIL6: a straight-winged orbiter atop a large Titan derivative
  • Heavy Lift Titan: A large diameter Titan core with three Shuttle boosters
  • Escher “Unshackled”: An unconventional idea for a lunar rocket

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USLP #03 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:

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Large format USBP drawings, Issues 10-12

The CAD drawings created for USBP reformatted and rescaled for 11X17 collected in a separate volume. Drawings have in some cases been corrected, improved and added to.

USBP 11X17 10-12 collects the diagrams created for issues 10, 11 and 12, including:

Boeing Model 464-34-3, Republic mach 7, Lockheed CL-1301-1, Convair WS-125A, Boeing 484-415, Martin Model 223-10, Boeing Model 814-1010 Dyna Soar, Martin Model 192-5, Boeing Model 464-40, Boeing Model 701-218, Northrop Nuclear flying wing, North American D118, Martin Model 223-11, North American Model 705-00-04, Bell/Martin 464L, Boeing B-1, Boeing Big Bird BB 6800, Boeing Model464-41, Douglas MX-2091-E, Boeing Model 701-238, Martin Model 223-12, Northrop Nuclear Flying Wing, Rockwell MRCC, Lockheed CL-820-8

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USBP11x17-10-12 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $11:
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Large format USBP drawings, Issues 13-15

The CAD drawings created for USBP reformatted and rescaled for 11X17 collected in a separate volume. Drawings have in some cases been corrected, improved and added to.

USBP 11X17 13-15 collects the diagrams created for issues 10, 11 and 12, including:

Ryan Model 162, Boeing Orbital bomb, Northrop Atomic Wing, Consolidated Vultee High Speed Flying Boat, Martin Model 189, Boeing Model 464-046, Curtis F-87C, Boeing Model 701-247, Lockheed WS 464L Dyna Soar, McDonnell WS 464L Dyna Soar, North American WS 464L Dyna Soar, Republic WS 464L Dyna Soar, Convair WS 464L Dyna Soar I, Convair WS 464L Dyna Soar II, Douglas WS 464L Dyna Soar, Northrop N206 WS 464L Dyna Soar, Boeing Model 814-1010 Dyna Soar II, Bell/Martin WS 464L Dyna Soar, Boeing Model 2050E Dyan Soar, Boeing Dyna Soar/ Titan IIIc, Bell D2001 TS-149, Lockheed Harvey; Convair Model 35, Rockwell D661-27, Boeing Model 464-49, Boeing Model 988-123, Boeing Manned Orbital Bomber, Boeing Model 701-251

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USBP11x17-13-15 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $11:
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 Posted by at 8:27 pm
Nov 132015
 

A few months ago, Airbus Defence and Space Sas received a US patent for a nearly hypersonic passenger transport. The vehicle has a number of different engines… rocket engines for vertical boost and acceleration, ramjets for hypersonic cruise, turbojets for subsonic flight including takeoff and landing. It would take off conventionally with turbojets, fire the rocket to shoot almost vertically to about 35 kilometers altitude (going supersonic in the process), then level off and cruise under ramjet power at Mach 4.5. The extreme altitude, about 3 times higher than normal jetliner traffic, would mean that the sonic boom should be greatly attenuated by the time it got to the surface.

The wingtip fins would rotate through 90 degrees to maintain center of pressure from subsonic through supersonic.

Unusually for a patent, this one provides dimensions. Fuselage length (dimension 11 in Figure 1) is 52.995 meters; overall length (dimension 110, Figure 3) is 57.63 meters; maximum span (dimension 126, Figure 5) is 27.188 meters.

Interestingly, the design looks like a mishmash of WWII-era designs… the “gothic wing” designed by Michael Gluhareff of Sikorsky merged with the wingtips of the Blohm & Voss P.208-2 or Skoda-Kauba SL-6.

This is US Patent 907661B2. At the moment the Google page for this patent seems a little non-functional; the PDF of the patent won’t download for me. Fortunately, the page for the patent application is functioning just fine. You can download the PDF file of the patent application directly from THIS LINK RIGHT HERE.

Some pages of diagrams:

Pages from US20120325957_Page_1Pages from US20120325957_Page_2 Pages from US20120325957_Page_3

Here is a video description of the design.

The interior views of the vehicle show one of the problems with rocket-boosted transport aircraft: The majority of the interior volume isn’t people and cargo, but propellant.

Much more aerospace stuff is available via the APR Patreon. If this sort of thing interests you, please consider signing up… not only will you help fund the search for obscure aerospace history, you’ll gain access to a lot of interesting stuff, not available elsewhere.

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 Posted by at 12:50 pm
Jul 252015
 

I have added three hi-rez scans to the APR Patreon “Extras” Dropbox folder for the month of 2015-07. If you are interested in these, they are available to all $4 and up patrons at the APR Patreon.

Bell artwork from the late 70’s or ’80’s depicting the D316 tiltrotor, a proposed operational derivative of their XV-15 research tiltrotor.

Bel D316 Tiltrotor art

Convair 58-9 SST, derived from the B-58 bomber (see HERE for a well illustrated article on this and other B-58 SSTs):

Convair 59-9 SST display model

Early artwork for a VTOL fighter concept from Ryan; this would eventually become the X-13:

early ryan X-13 art

 Posted by at 11:06 am
Jul 082015
 

Now available… three new additions to the US Aerospace Projects series.

US Bomber Projects #15

USBP#15 includes:

  • Bell D2001: A 1957 eight-engined Bell VTOL strike plane for the Navy
  • Lockheed “Harvey”: AKA the Hopeless Diamond, Lockheeds first design for what became the F-117
  • Convair Model 35: An early push-pull concept for the B-36
  • Rockwell D661-27: A nuclear powered strategic bomber
  • Boeing Model 464-49: The penultimate major design in the development of the B-52
  • Boeing Model 988-123: A highly agile stealthy strike fighter
  • Boeing Orbital Bomber: An early concept for a Dyna Soar derivative with eight nukes
  • Boeing Model 701-251: A twin engined concept on the road to the XB-59

USBP#15 can be purchased for downloading for the low, low price of $4.25.

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US Transport Projects #4

USTP#4 includes:

  • Boeing Model 473-13: An early twin-engine jetliner
  • ICARUS Troop Transport: 1,200 marines, anywhere, anytime
  • Republic Model 10 SST: A little known SST competitor
  • Lockheed CL-593: A giant, if slow, logistics transporter
  • Boeing 763-059 NLA: A whole lotta passengers in one place
  • Fairchild M-534: A B-36 converted into a vast cargo carrier
  • Lockheed CL-1201: Probably the largest aircraft ever designed
  • Oblique All-Wing Supersonic Airplane: A supersonic variable-orientation flying wing

USTP#4 can be purchased for downloading for the low, low price of $4.25.

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US Launch Vehicle Projects #2

USLP#2 includes:

  • Juno V, 4 stage: An early design that became the Saturn rocket
  • Boeing “Space Freighter”: a giant two-stage spaceplane for launching solar power satellites
  • Boeing NASP-D: A rare look at an operational National Aerospace Plane derivative
  • LLNL Mockingbird: The smallest SSTO ever designed
  • Boeing Model 922-101: A fully reusable Saturn V
  • NAR Phase B Space Shuttle: a fully reusable two-stage concept
  • Martin Marietta Inline SDV: A Shuttle-derived heavy lifter
  • Scaled Composites Model 351: The Stratolaunch carrier aircraft

USLP#2 can be purchased for downloading for the low, low price of $4.25.

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 Posted by at 12:41 am
Apr 142015
 

Vincent Burnelli was an aircraft designer who specialized in lifting-fuselage aircraft… instead of a cylindrical tube, his fuselages were fat unswept wing cross-sections. The thinking was that this would reduce drag and increase lift and make the vehicles more structurally sound in the event of a crash; while in some cases testing did show some occasional advantages, on the whole these designs did not provide much if any aerodynamic advantage; and once aircraft started flying high enough to require pressurization, the non-circular cross section made pressurization difficult to achieve cost effectively. Sadly, any advantages these designs may have had have been overshadowed by the largely unhinged conspiracy theories that have sprung up around why they haven’t been adopted.

One of the last of Burnellis designs (from about 1962) was the “GB-888,” a supersonic jetliner of unusual configuration. Artwork reproduced below seems to date from the 1980s; here the SST has been relabeled an “aerospaceplane.” The idea, apparently, was to ride the coattails of the X-30 National Aero Space Plane, which had a *vaguely* similar lifting fuselage configuration. As drawn, of course, the GB-888 would make a terrible ASP… the windows on the sides would be melt nicely on re-entry; the sharp edges would concentrate aerothermal heating loads to a fantastic degree; and putting then engines on the top surface would do a fantastic job of getting them out of the airflow, assuring that the engines would not perform very well at all. Still, it’s interesting art.

Burnelli GB-888

I have made the high-rez of this illustration available for $4-level patrons at the APR Patreon.

 Posted by at 10:26 am
Apr 062015
 

Now available… two new additions to the US Aerospace Projects series.

US Bomber Projects #14: System 464L Special

USBP#14 brings together the competitors to Weapon System 464L, the first major effort in the Dyna Soar program. These designs were previously shown individually in prior issues of USBP; here they are brought together, with some updates, as well as a few extra diagrams and a section of diagrams formatted for 11X17 printing. This issue includes info and diagrams of the Lockheed, Republic, General Dynamics, McDonnell, Boeing, Douglas, Northrop, North American and Martin-Bell entries as well as their various booster systems. Also included are detailed diagrams of the ultimate Dyna Soar design, the 2050E.

USBP#14 can be purchased for downloading for the low, low price of $6.25.

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 Also available:US Transport Projects #03.

Included in this issue:

  • Lockheed “Environmentally Responsible Aviation” box-wing jetliner
  • Martin Commercial Twin-Hull concept from 1942
  • North American Aviation NAC-60 SST competitor
  • McDonnell-Douglas Cargo Spanloader
  • Boeing Model 763-058 “New Large Airplane”
  • BoMi Passenger Transport Rocket
  • Lockheed L-152-1 early jet transport with unusual inlets
  • Aerial Relay System: for when crazy is preferred

USTP #03 can be purchased for download for only $4.25:

 

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 Posted by at 3:43 am
Mar 272015
 

I have made some adjustments to the Aerospace Projects Review Patreon campaign. The first is that I’ve reduced the number of rewards levels, which I was informed was previously Too Many. More importantly, I have added some new rewards: if you become a patron at $5 or more per month, you receive 10% off all future purchases of APR, US Aerospace Projects and downloadable Documents and Drawings. If you become a patron at $10 per month, you will receive 20% off any such purchases. Check of the APR Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=197906

Additionally, the campaign has reached the point where the rewards are now *three* aerospace documents, one high-rez historical diagram and one all-new CAD diagram per month. This is in addition to the random “Extras” I throw in for $4 and up patrons. The most recent extra is a full-rez restoration of a three-view diagram of a 1978 McDonnell-Douglas concept for modifying Skylab to be serviced by the Space Shuttle. You can see a smaller-rez version of that here: http://www.aerospaceprojectsreview.com/blog/?p=2153

If you sign up now you will get the latest rewards which include:

  • A Bell Aircraft presentation on the SR-126 Bomber Missile, a manned ICBM predecessor of the Dyna Soar
  • A Lockheed paper on the history of the Polaris to Trident Fleet Ballistic Missile
  • A large poster illustrating the missiles and rockets of the Orbital Sciences Corporation
  • An all-new CAD diagram detailing the 10-meter Orion nuclear pulse propulsion vehicle designed by General Atomic for the USAF
 Posted by at 7:39 pm