Jan 302012
 

The 1959 Dyna Soar design from the Martin Company, designed by Hans Multhopp (formerly of Focke-Wulf). This was from when the Dyna Soar was a sub-orbital research vehicle meant to be lobbed by a modified Titan I ICBM. Note the inclusion of a turbojet engine for landing purposes, a common design element at this stage in the program.

Note that the cockpit of this little spaceplane was designed to be ejected in the event of an emergency. At this stage in the Dyna Soar program, the vehicle had lost its role as a bomber, and had been reduced to an R&D vehicle, thus the “cargo bay” stuffed full of equipment. Boeing’s final Dyna Soar design also had the instrument-filled cargo bay, but they fully expected to be able to ditch the instruments (which were mostly to measure and record pressure and temperature data all around the vehicle during re-entry) once the testing phase was over, and then proceed to fill the bay with useful payload, everything from anti-satellite hardware to passengers going to space stations.

The turbojet would very quickly be abandoned as weight climbed, meaning the Dyna Soar would glide to a landing much like the Space Shuttle.

A full-scale mockup of the cockpit was built… note that it appears to be made of cardboard. Cheesy, but perfectly adequate for preliminary layout purposes. Plus, some little kid may have gotten one hell of a spiffy Space Patrol Rocket to play in after its utility for Martin was finished. Note also the side-stick controller.

 Posted by at 12:24 pm
Jan 302012
 

Full-color artwork photographed at the archive of the Ira G. Ross Aerospace Museum in Niagara Falls; this original piece was painted on thick matte board. Scanning was not an option, but photography worked pretty well. This is the second of two photos.

You can download a 3.4 megabyte JPG file of the artwork; the link  is HERE. To access it, you will need to enter a username and password. The username and password are listed on page 2 of APR issue V0N0.  Note that both are case sensitive.

 Posted by at 11:58 am
Jan 292012
 

A publicity photo of the BAT (Bell Advanced Tiltrotor), a circa 1984 concept for a one-man attack tiltrotor to complete in the Army scout helicopter program (LHX – Light Helicopter Experimental) that led to the abortive RAH-66 Comanche. Shown here is a full-scale mockup; the prop-rotors as shown are substantially chopped down from the length they’d be on the actual aircraft. The BAT would have outperformed all other competitors except for hover performance; but the Army did not want a fixed-wing vehicle, so the BAT did not progress very far in the competition.

You can download a 3 megabyte JPG file of the artwork; the link  is HERE. To access it, you will need to enter a username and password. The username: the first word in the body of the text on page 6 of APR issue V1N3. The password: the first word in the body of the text on page 23 of the same issue. Note that both are case sensitive.

 Posted by at 12:40 am
Jan 262012
 

A Boy Scout booklet on making models (printed sometime in the 1980′s or later, but was originally printed in 1964) contained a number of rather tiny black and white futuristic automobile, ship, aircraft and spacecraft artists concepts. Sadly, there were no notations as to who created the artwork. Several of the pieces I recognize as having been created for Real Projects by Real Companies or Real Government Organizations, so I assume that at least most of the ones I *don’t* recognize were also “real” projects, as opposed to, say, artwork created for Mechanix Illustrated.

Three of the illustrations show large ships preparing to launch large missiles. These can be safely assumed to be space launch rockets rather than ICBMs.

The first illustration seems to show an Atlas launch vehicle being launched off the back of a large ship… apparently a modified aircraft carrier. The payload on the Atlas has an escape tower… indicating that it’s a manned Atlas (perhaps Mercury). Oddly, the ship seems to be underway to judge from the wake. This seems unlikely, unless it’s a tactic to keep up with the wind. Chances are fair that this might be a Convair concept.

The second concept shows a smaller ship and a smaller rocket. Perhaps a Scout?

The third concept shows another large ship, heavily modified with what look to be armored domes. The rocket appears to be an Atlas-Centaur.There appear to be propellant tanks amidships… perhaps liquid hydrogen tanks. Again, chances are fair that this is a Convair concept.

 

 Posted by at 4:04 pm
Jan 232012
 

Full-color artwork photographed at the archive of the Ira G. Ross Aerospace Museum in Niagara Falls; this original piece was painted on thick matt board. Scanning was not an option, but photography worked pretty well.

You can download a 3.8 megabyte JPG file of the artwork; the link  is HERE. To access it, you will need to enter a username and password. The username: the first word in the body of the text on page 22 of APR issue V1N2. The password: the first word in the body of the text on page 23 of the same issue. Note that both are case sensitive (hint: neither are “Copyright”).

 Posted by at 9:09 pm
Jan 232012
 

I keep getting asked the same questions, so I guess I should have a Frequently Asked Questions page for my downloads. Well, here it is.
Q01: How does this work?

A: It’s not an automated system. The way it works is that when you place an order through Paypal, Paypal sends me an email notifying me of the order. I then reply to the email address listed in the order, providing you with the web address where you can find your document, plus the username and password you’ll need in order to access it.

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Q02: “I just ordered a document. It’s been a whole 2 seconds, and I don’t have it yet. Where is it?”

A: I’m asleep/out buying groceries/fighting off hordes of zombies. I’ll respond to your email just as soon as I can.

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Q03: “I just ordered a document. It’s been a whole 24 hours, and I don’t have it yet. Where is it?”

A1: Check your “spam bucket.” Some spam filters see response messages such as you’ll get from me as spam, since there is a web address listed in it.

A2: Are you using the email address attached to the Paypal account? The response email with all your download info will be sent to the Paypal-listed email address. If you are using someone else’s Paypal address, or something like that, then *they* will receive the reply.

A3: On rare occasion, the automated Paypal system that sends me order notifications fails to do so. Thus I don’t know you’ve ordered something. Feel free to send a “where’s my stuff” email to:

A4: Search your inbox. You might have gotten the message, but not noticed or recognized it. The header will be something like “Re: Notification of payment received” or “Re: Payment received from YourEmail@YourEmailDomain.com.”

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Q04: “I ordered a document for downloading, but the username and password aren’t working.”

A: By far the most common reason for this is either you’re typing the password wrong… or if you are using cut-and-paste, you are grabbing a spurious blank space. Try again, making sure to cut *just* the password.

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Q05: “I tried that, but it’s still not letting me in.”

A: The second biggest offender is your web browser. Something or other to do with cookies, or something. If you have another web browser (Netscape, Explorer, Firefox, whatever), try that.

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Q06: “I’ve downloaded a PDF file. What do I need to open it?”

A: Adobe Reader. It’s a free program.

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Q07: “I’ve downloaded a ZIP file. What do I need to open it?”

A: Any modern computer should have come with an unzipping program built in. If not, do a search for “unzip,” and download a program to your liking.

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Q08: “I ordered a drawing set, and can see the files named ‘XYZ halfsize.gif’ and ‘XYZ quartersize.gif,” but not the full size image. Why?”

A: Some of the full size images are quite large. Sometimes they are so large that operating systems and/or image viewing and processing programs simply refuse to show them. All of the full-size images I sell are viewable on *my* system, which is a bit antiquated… but that doesn’t mean that they will be viewable on *all* systems. This is why I include the “halfsize” and “quartersize” versions, so that everybody should be able to see the images. You do still have the full-rez image… try looking at it on another computer.

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Q09: “Ooops, I ordered the wrong thing. I wanted A, but I seem to have actually ordered B. Can I have A?”

A1: If the error is due to something screwy in the webpage – rare, but it has happened that a typo in the HTML coding can lead to this sort of thing – then I’ll fix you right up with a proper download of A. Keep the other item, free of charge.
A2: A slightly more common error is on my part… you order SDOC4, say, and I mistakenly send you the link to SDWG4. In that case, let me know, and I’ll fix you right up with what you actually ordered. Keep the other item, free of charge.

A3: If the error is due to you simply ordering the wrong thing… well… the problem with digital files is that you can easily make copies of them, and thus cannot really be returned. So if my policy was to automatically “correct” “mistakes,” then it’d be the easiest thing in the world to scam me right out of half my catalog.

So… no. If you wanted A but mistakenly ordered B, I’ll be happy to fill your *next* order for A.

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Q10: “I bought one of your documents, and want to extract the images from it for my own devious purposes. However, it’s password protected. Gimme the password. Gimme.”

A: The documents (air docs, space docs and APr’s, but not DCD’s) are password protected *solely* to try to minimise piracy of ’em. The documents will open just fine and will print just fine at high rez, but image and text extraction will present a challenge. I’ve had issues with people taking the data I’ve worked hard to find and prepare and then turning it around and reselling it (grrr). However, if you have a valid use for extracted images, let me know, and I’ll almost certainly fork over the relevant password.

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Q11: “I want you to add me to your mailing list.”

A: No can do. The system I use now requires that the person who wants on the mailing list add themselves (I can add you, or the system will think I’m a spammer). So, simply go HERE and add your email address.

I’ll update this FAQ as questions come in. Feel free to comment

 Posted by at 11:06 am
Jan 222012
 

If you want to be added to the email list, add your email address in the box below and hit “submit.” You won’t receive any emails apart from the subscription confirmation (it’s free, by the way) and any Aerospace Projects Review (& associated products) updates I send out. Your email address won’t be visible to others.

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PS: If someone signs up for the mailing list via the link above, I’d appreciate it if you could comment and let me know if it all went smoothly or if there were any troubles.

 Posted by at 12:12 am
Jan 202012
 

Aerospace Projects Review has been re-working and re-releasing the original run of issues in order… until now. Just finished and uploaded is an issue that might not be expected… issue V0N0. Prior to publishing the first issue of Aerospace Projects Review, I put together issue V0N0, a short prototype issue that I released for free to see if people liked it and if it would be worth continuing with. There was much that could have been improved about that issue… and it has been improved. Issue eV0N0 is now greatly expanded to 56 pages… small by modern APR standards, but a massive increase compared to the original. The original articles have been greatly expanded, and all-new articles have been added.

Preview the issue here:

The table of contents for eV0N0:

The Drawbridge and the Pancake: One of the more unusual Space Shuttle configurations

Northrop N-31 Flying Wing Bomber: A series of turboprop-powered bomber designs

Martin XB-68: A supersonic tactical bomber concept

Aerospace History Nugget: Mach 6.0 SST: Three fuselages for the price of one

Kaiser Tailless Airplane: A flying wing cargo carrier

Boeing VTOL Intercity Transport: A jetliner that can land on your office building

Boeing Transport-To-Space: The spaceplane that needs to be assembled in space

Aerospace History Nugget: Curtis High-Speed Fighter Concepts: Hypothetical fighters designed for maximum speed

Aerospace History Nugget: Convair VTOL Tailsitter: An early VTOL jet fighter capable of supersonic speeds

It is available in three formats. Firstly, it can be downloaded directly from me for the low, low price of $6.50. Second, it can be purchased as a professionally printed volume through Magcloud; third, it can be procured in both formats. To get the download, simply pay for it here through Paypal.

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To get the printed version (or print + PDF version), visit my MagCloud page:

http://scottlowther.magcloud.com/

The Downloading FAQ

 Posted by at 7:48 pm
Jan 112012
 

The Class III designs for Nova were intended to use advanced propulsion systems, advanced materials and be fully recoverable. Shown below is a NASA briefing chart on Nova Class III designs from September 1963 showing three Class III designs. The first is an airbreathing SSTO concept… a conical vehicle with rocket engines at the rim, and  a ;large duct wrapped around them. This produced an ejector effect, in theory greatly increasing thrust at low airspeed. As velocity increased, fuel could be injected directly into the duct, turning it into a ramjet. The ramjet would of course be use for only a relatively brief portion of the flight, so the duct would be dropped not long into the flight, presumably to be parachute recovered in the ocean. The other two designs are substantially more conventional, though both used plug cluster engines.

You can download a 4.4 megabyte JPG file of the artwork; the link  is HERE. To access it, you will need to enter a username and password. The username: the first word in the body of the text on page 12 of APR issue V1N6. The password: the first word in the body of the text on page 14 of the same issue. Note that both are case sensitive.

 Posted by at 2:24 am
Jan 092012
 

I have worked out a few advertising rates for ads in APR. There are two types… text-only “classified ads,” and full-color “picture ads.”  The short form:

Classified ad type 1: 200 characters for $5

Classified ad type 2: 300 characters for $7.50

Picture ad type 1: 3.4 in wide by 3 in high: $10

Picture ad type 2: 7 in wide by 2.5 in high: $25

Picture ad type 3: 3 in wide by 6 in high: $25

Picture ad type 4: 7 in wide by 5 in high: $55

And a full page ad (7 in wide by 10 high): $110

I have put together a PDF file showing these sort of ads in context. If you are interested in advertising in APR, please take a look at it and see what works for you.

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 Posted by at 12:29 pm