Klagenfurt Klf 255

Dec 092014

Ever since I started working on Aerospace Projects Review in the late 1990’s, people have asked from time to time if I planned on putting out an April Fools edition,or covering fictional designs, something along those lines. And I have always shot that concept down, because one thing I don’t want to do is contribute to confusion of mythology. Because even the most transparent fakery can be believed by far too many people (witness the patently absurd modern fiction called “Die Glocke”).

One of the better known “fakes” that has sometimes been understood to be real is the “Klagenfurt Klf 255.” This was originally published in the French aviation magazine “Fana de l’Aviation” as an April Fools gag in 1973. Supposedly a wartime German design for a rocket powered interceptor, the diagrams are actually reasonably convincing, as are the pre-Photoshop fake photos… but it was nevertheless pure fiction.

Some years back someone sent me a photocopy of the original article. I’ve scanned it in PDF format and posted it to the APR Patreon for all patrons (this means as cheap as $0.75/month). Enjoy. And remember… It’s A Faaaaaaaaaake.

If you would like to access these items and support the cause of acquiring and sharing these pieces of aerospace history, please visit my Patreon page and consider contributing.

Early ATF?

fighter, stealth No Responses »

Nov 202014

A tiny, postage-stamp-sized illustration in a double-page advertisement for Lockheed in a July, 1988, issue of Aviation Week shows a CAD diagram of a jet fighter. This appears to be a twin-engined stealthy air superiority fighter. The illustration appears to be a photo taken of an old-school CRT monitor, and mirrored for some reason. Sadly, none of the text is useful or readable, and dimensions are undeterminable.

PDF Bonus: Docking an XF-85 Goblin

bomber, fighter, Patreon, PDF Review, research No Responses »

Oct 232014

This is the third of four “PDF Reviews” I plan to have in October, to make up for the lack of any in September. The idea is to present interesting online resources for those interested in the sort of aerospace oddities that you can find in the pages of Aerospace Projects Review. This little project is supported through my Patreon campaign; at current levels, I’ll post two such reviews per month. If you’d like to see more, or just want to contribute to help me along, please consider becoming a patron.

One of the odder American aircraft in the immediate post-war period was the McDonnell XP-85 “Goblin.” This was essentially the smallest jet fighter possible to build with the technology of the time… small so that it could be carried within the bomb bay of the Convair B-36. The B-36 could reach far, far beyond the range of any conceivable escort fighter, leaving it at the mercy of defending Soviet fighters; if it could carry a fighter jet with it, it might stand a chance. of course the idea was fairly ridiculous; the Goblin was the biggest plane that could be carried internally, yet would almost certainly stand little chance against a conventional fighter.

Dropping the fighter from the bomb bay would be fairly easy and straightforward. But getting it back was understood to be a challenge. The Goblin would rendezvous with a “trapeze” projected well below the bomb bay, outside of the turbulent airflow around the bombers fuselage. Once docked to the trapeze, it would be mechanically stabilized, the wings would fold up and the trapeze would retract, safely drawing the fighter into the bomb bay. That, at least, was the plan; actual testing with a B-29 showed that the docking rendezvous was far more difficult than envisioned.

This difficulty was not wholly unforeseen. In 1947, the Langley Aeronautical Lab ran a series of wind tunnel tests of a 1/10 scale model of the Goblin and the forward fuselage of a B-36. Tests were conducted with both “power off” and “power on” models; the power off models were well behaved when docked to the trapeze, but the power on models quickly underwent violent flailing. The tests were filmed, with small still images included in the test report; the power-on model response is dramatic, to say the least.

Stability and Control Characteristics of a 1/10-Scale Model of the McDonnell XP-85 Airplane While Attached to the Trapeze

Here’s the link to the NASA-NTRS abstract of the report.

And here’s the DIRECT LINK TO THE PDF.

The wooden model of the FP-85 used. Note the hinged wings and the rudimentary landing gear, used to protect the model if it falls free.

Diagram of the XP-85 model.

Patreon: October 2014 rewards released

fighter, hi-rez, hypersonic, launch vehicles, Patreon, research, rockets, spacecraft, transports No Responses »

Oct 102014

The October rewards for the APR patrons have been released. They include:

PDF document: “A Recoverable Air Breathing Booster,” A Chrysler study from 1964 for a strap-on booster system for the Saturn Ib incorporating additional H-1 rocket engines and jet engines for recovery.

PDF Document: “XF-103 Descriptive Data,”a Lockheed collection of information on the then-current XF-103. This is from a Lockheed collection of information on competitors designs.

Large format diagram scan: the Boeing Advanced Theater Transport. A later version of the tilt-wing “Super Frog.”

And for the higher-end patrons, a CAD diagram of an early NACA-Langley design for what would become the X-15.

If you would like to access these items and support the cause of acquiring and sharing these pieces of aerospace history, please visit my Patreon page and consider contributing.

NOT the Yak-21

fighter, rockets No Responses »

Oct 032014

Currently up on eBay is a Lockheed summary of data on the Yak-21. However… it’s not even close to accurate. The actual Yak 21 was a trainer version of the early Yak 15 jet fighter, which was very much a WWII-tech-level design, being similar to a number of wartime German aircraft projects. But the Yak-21 as described in the Lockheed document is… well, it’s also clearly a wartime German technology development, but quite a different one. Instead of a single-engine jet fighter with the engine tucked under the nose, this time the Yak-21 was a straight-winged rocket powered interceptor. Again, numerous wartime German projects showed much the same thing. It’s unclear how Lockheed came to believe that that’s what the Yak-21 was.

The data visible in the photos indicates a maximum speed of Mach 1.3 and an endurance of 3 minutes, and a combat altitude of up to 66,000 feet. How such a small vehicle with such limited endurance could get there is anyones guess.

Patreon: September 2014 rewards

fighter, hi-rez, hypersonic, launch vehicles, Patreon, research, rockets, spacecraft, spaceplane, stealth No Responses »

Sep 202014

After a bit of a delay, the September rewards have been released. These include a large-format inboard profile of the North American Aviation F-108 Rapier Mach 3+ interceptor:

And “Notes on Space Technology,” a compilation of notes by the Flight Research Division of the NACA Langley Research Center based on a space technology course given in the early part of 1958. A hefty 670+pages in length, this covered just about every aspect of space travel as understood in 1958. While I haven’t read the whole thing, it appears to be not only of historical interest, but also useful to get a pretty good general grasp of space travel science, principles and technologies.

Also included for the higher level patrons are three CAD diagrams:

Boeing Bird of Prey stealth, manufacturing and materials testing prototype aircraft from the 1990’s

Zenith Star experimental space based laser anti-missile system, 1988

Hypersonic Test Vehicle 2, a maneuverable hypersonic glider for missile-launched warheads

The September rewards are about a week and a half late in being released. Since I hope to get the October rewards out a little earlier than normal, that means that the September releases will probably be available for a short time.

If you would like to access these items and support the cause of acquiring and sharing these pieces of aerospace history, please visit my Patreon page and consider contributing.

Almost the F-15

fighter 1 Response »

Sep 172014

McDonnell Douglas artwork from ~1970 showing the F-15 late in the design process. While it’s recognizably the F-15, a number of differences are visible, primary being the ventral fins and slimmer nose.

Patreon: August rewards released

fighter, nukes, Patreon, rockets, space shuttle, spacecraft, stealth 1 Response »

Aug 102014

The rewards for my Patreon patrons have now been released. This months selections include:

Diagram: a very large, very nice layout of the Avro Arrow. This was voted on by the top-level patrons.

Document: a report on the Vought Regulus II cruise missile which includes some very nice layout and inboard diagrams of both the operational and test missiles. This was voted for by the top-level patrons.

Document: “Introduction to Kistler Aerospace Corporation,” a full-color brochure from 1995 describing the K-0 sorta-SSTO launch vehicle (which would use an “launch platform”).

Additionally, for the higher-level patrons ($5 and up) there are three all-new CAD diagrams:

1) The Boeing “Big Onion” SSTO from the 1970s, meant to launch Solar Power Satellite components

2) The Space Shuttle Main Engine

3) The Northrop Tacit Blue stealth testbed. This is, so far as I’m aware, the first time that a clear and accurate three-view of this aircraft has been released publicly.

I’ve changed things a little bit from last month. At each patronage level, there are different levels of rewards. Each level has its own message under the “Creations” tab just above the APR logo at my Patreon page. And in the upper righthand corner of each message is a little gray rectangle with “Zip” in it. This is the link to the ZIP archive containing the files for that specific patronage level. If you are a higher-level patron, this may not include all the files you are entitled to. You should be able to download everything from the lower-level patron messages.

Prices cut on aerospace cyanotype blueprints

bomber, Dyna Soar, fighter, hi-rez, hypersonic, launch vehicles, nukes, Recon, research, rockets, space shuttle, spacecraft, spaceplane, transports, VTOL No Responses »

Jul 262014

I’ve cut the prices on all my cyanotypes by at least 25%, up to 40%. I’ve also gotten rid of the watercolor versions; it’s all vellum paper now (not only is it more historically accurate, it’s also a lot easier to process and ship).

So… take a look.

Cyanotype Blueprints

Jul 212014

For $10 patrons on my Patreon campaign, a new message should appear there asking you to vote on what I’ll release in August (two documents and one large format diagram). For those who are $10 patrons, here’s a partial list anyway… if you see something there and you really want to make sure it becomes available, well, the obvious thing to do is sign on and vote!

———————-

Drawing: fairly detailed 3-view of Lunar Roving Vehicle (as actually flown to the moon)

Drawing: “Plans for Scale Model Construction of the Honest John Surface-to-Surface Missile” by McDonnell-Douglas, 1971 (does anyone know of more of these???)

Document: “Douglas Aircraft Company: An Overview,” 60+ page brochure showing existing and proposed jetliners, by McDonnell-Douglas, ca. 1980

Art: a vintage lithograph of the Lockheed L-2000 SST in flight, w/3 view on the back.

Document: “CT-39 International Sabreliner,” a Rockwell International booklet/brochure describing the multipurpose utility jet

Document: “Air Force Expeditionary Catapult,” a truly massive billet of paper serving as a proposal from the All American Engineering Company for the System 300 Catapult, 1955. This was to be a turbojet-powered cable launching system for jet fighters which could be easily transported and set up in the field. (NOTE: this one counts as two reports, as it’s fairly gigantic)

Document: Aeroassisted Flight Experiment Nonadvocate Review, 1989, NASA

Document: Pocket Data for Rocket Engines, 1953, Bell

Document: SAM-D Air Defense Weapon System, 1973, US Army

Document: Pilots Handbook of Operation XLR11-RM-3 & XLR11-RM-5, liquid Rocket Engines, 1950, Reaction Motors

Art: X-15 lithograph (date unknown)

Document: The Centaur Program, 1961, Convair

Document: Orbiter Vehicle Structures, Rockwell

Document: An integrated Moonmobile-Spacesuit Concept, 1961, Aerojet

Document: The Intercontinental Stratoliner 707-320, 1955, Boeing

Document: Douglas DC-8 Design Study, 1953, Douglas

Document: Transport Weight Comparison Based on Lockheed 49-10, 1943, Lockheed

Document: ETR Launch Operations Plan for Cenaur on Shuttle, 1979, General Dynamics

Diagram: MD-11 wing diagram, six-feet long: McDonnel-Douglas, 1995

Document: A Lockheed presentation on the GL-224 Turbo-Jet VTOL Aircraft, 1958

Document: A Project RAND report on the GG-2 all-wing bomber, 1949

Document: A small Rockwell brochure on the “common core” concept for a fixed-wing subsonic B-1 variant, 1979 4) A presentation on the Douglas “Skybus,” 1944

Document: A NAA report on a turboprop-powered F-82E for ground attack, 1949

Document: A Curtis report on the twin engined F-87C, 1948

Document: A Vertol report on VTOL transport aircraft, showing several very different configurations, 1956

Document: A Lockheed presentation to the AIAA on the history of the Fleet Ballistic Missile, 1978

Document: A collection of Manned Spacecraft Center Space Shuttle orbiter concepts, 1972

Document: A Convair collection of design drawings of an Assault Seaplane, 1948 (NOTE: this one counts as two reports, as it’s fairly gigantic)

Document: A Vought report on the Regulus II missile with detailed diagrams, 1955

Older Entries Newer Entries

Aerospace Projects Review Blog

Klagenfurt Klf 255

Early ATF?

PDF Bonus: Docking an XF-85 Goblin

Patreon: October 2014 rewards released

NOT the Yak-21

Patreon: September 2014 rewards

Almost the F-15

Patreon: August rewards released

Prices cut on aerospace cyanotype blueprints

Cyanotype Blueprints

Patreon: time to vote for August