The heyday of the “atomic powered airplane” was the late 50’s-early 60’s. By the mid ’60’s it was done. But there was a brief, kinda sad and halfhearted revival in the seventies when the price of fuel spiked. An atomic airplane would be able to fly without all that pesky and overpriced petroleum; it could fly without producing pollution; and it could fly really, really far. Whether it could fly without irradiating the passengers, and whether it could fly at all, are questions largely left unanswered. The art below depicts a Lockheed concept for an atomic jetliner. It has the wasp-waisted configuration favored in the ’70’s for transonic jetliner designs, but where the reactor was supposed to go is not clear. *Presumably* it was to be fitted in the fuselage under the wings, as that’s the only place where no passenger windows are visible.
