Another (probably Grumman) painting depicting the abortive F-111B in service. The paint scheme shown here is different from what’s usually depicted, with an overall dark gray upper and lighter gray lower.
Jan 072014
Jan 052014
A piece of artwork – from a collection of Grumman art – depicting the failed US Navy F-111B. The F-111B was primarily a General Dynamics design, but Grumman was an important contractor, so this may be Grumman art.
Jan 042014
A photo of the full-scale Zenith Star space-based laser experiment at the Martin-Mariette Titan plant near Denver, circa 1987.
Dec 302013
McDonnell-Douglas concept art of their briefly studied Advanced Technology Bomber design.
Everything I have on this, including some very reliable diagrams, is in US Bomber Projects #05. If you’d like to download the full-rez version of this (3000 pixels wide), it is available HERE. To access it, you’ll need the username and password given in the “USBP05 extra content” section on the first page of USBP #05.
Dec 272013
Issue number 5 of US Bomber Projects is now available (for background, see HERE). This issue includes:
- McDonnell-Douglas ATB: The little know third competitor for the B-2
- McDonnell-Douglas/Boeing DF-9: A Mach 10 global-range strike/space launch system from the 1990’s
- Boeing Model 701-273-5: A supersonic bomber with an extreme inverse-taper wing
- Fairchild N-9: An early 1950’s nuclear powered concept
- Martin Model 223-5: A predecessor to the B-48 with canards
- Rockwell D645-5: A subsonic 1978 flying wing bomber designed to use a laser for defense against fighters and missiles
- North American 464L: NAA’s X-15 derived orbital spaceplane concept for the Dyna Soar program
- Boeing Model 464-17: 1946 four-turboprop strategic bomber, a step toward the B-52
USBP#05 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:
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Dec 272013
Be sure to check out the Complete Catalog for all the drawings and documents.
Saturn I Summary
A 44 page NASA brochure (from somewhen around 1965) describing all the Saturn I vehicles that were launched. Includes diagrams showing the different configurations and provides mission data and highlights.
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The Retro-Glide Booster Concept
A 20-page collection of information on the Martin-Marietta “Retro-Glide Booster,” an early Shuttle idea for using a winged and recoverable derivative of the Saturn V first stage. A 1971 NASA Space Shuttle History Project document.
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NB-36H Aircraft Descriptive Data
30 pages of Lockheed data on the Convair NB-36H (the B-36 equipped with a nuclear reactor for test purposes). This comes from the Lockheed “Competitive Data Group,” which was Lockheed’s collection of intelligence data on *other* companies designs and proposals. This report, largely hand-written, provides a program history as well as weight and dimensional data, with a number of sketches showing the general arrangement and internal layout.
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Handbook on Guided Missiles
212 pages of a 1946 War Department report on German and Japanese rocket powered missiles and aircraft. This rarely-seen classic (scanned from a photocopy) provides a vast pile of information, including a great many diagrams.
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Saturn Foldout
A NASA-Marshall publicity brochure on the Saturn V, dating to the mid-late 1960’s. Prints out full-size to 34 1/4 inches by 9 1/2 inches
Dec 252013
From the glory days of aerospace illustration, the B2707-200 supersonic transport. The full-rez illustration is a thing to behold!
Dec 242013
A piece of artwork, presumably from Grumman (it came from a photo album full of Grumman artwork), depicting an F-14 in USAF colors. Shown flying over ballistic missile warning radar facilities Way Up North. It appears to be a pretty stock F-14… seems equipped with an M-61 and an AIM-54.
Dec 232013
Post-war US Army film showing US soldiers poking around with some captured German rocket vehicles: the Bachem Ba-349 (basically a manned surface-to-air missile) and the Ruhrstahl X-4, an air-to-air missile. The X-4 would have been difficult to use… wire guided like the modern TOW missile, the lone fighter pilot launching the missile would have to fly his plane while simultaneously steering the missile, using a Mark I Eyeball to track a visible flare.
[youtube t-P8NjcMemY]
Dec 172013
A film about NERVA (Nuclear Energy for Rocket Vehicle Applications), 1968.
[youtube WoiVej1rccs]
Provides a basic description of nuclear rockets, plus some art, animation and diagrams of nuclear propelled space vehicles along with footage of test firings.