After WWII, the US Navy contracted Bell Aircraft to modify two of their P-63 Kingcobras to have highly swept wings, to test low-speed flight characteristics of the Wings Of Tomorrow. Below is a three-view of the resultant L-39 test aircraft taken from a 1948 NACA-Langley wind tunnel test report.
Taken from a January 1947 NACA-Langley wind tunnel test report are some images describing the Naval Aircraft Factory “Float wing convoy interceptor.” This was an unconventional single-engine, single-seat fighter plane designed to be catapulted off of a ship (a cargo ship, presumably), land in the water and then be picked up by crane and returned to service. There was no landing gear. The unusual fuselage had substantially more drag than a conventional one, due to the cutout needed for the mid-ship mounted propeller. The model was 1/4 scale. Full-scale information includes:
Engine: one Ranger XV-770-9, max 625 hp
Normal gross weight: 4000 lbs
Fighter overload gross weight: 4319 lbs
Wingspan: 29.83 ft
Wing area: 160 sq. ft
It seemed to be a poor performer. Not only lots of drag, but the rudder had a tendency to shake badly. This was clearly a WWII-era design; by 1947, not only was its design obsolete, so was its role.
This design was featured in the F-23 derivatives article in the recent V3N2 issue of Aerospace Projects Review. This was Northrops plan for an operational follow-on to the YF-23, with some notable geometry changes.
You can download a 2.5 megabyte GIF file of the diagram. The link to the JPG file is HERE. To access it, you will need to enter a username and password. These are available on the first page of the Aerospace Projects Review V3N2 Addendum (available HERE) Note that both are case sensitive.
I put together a number of photos I recently took of Hill Aerospace Museums newly-restored F-104A into a free downloadable PDF booklet.
If you like this, feel free to distribute hither and yon. If you *really* like this, feel free to toss a dollar or three my way.
If there is interest, I will make more of this sort of thing… I have a vast collection of photos of aerospace and weapons systems that might be of interest.
This design was featured in the F-23 derivatives article in the recent V3N2 issue of Aerospace Projects Review. This was an attempt by Northrop to adapt F-23 design elements to a Naval role, carrier-capable.
You can download a 1.4 megabyte GIF file of the diagram. The link to the JPG file is HERE. To access it, you will need to enter a username and password. These are available on the first page of the Aerospace Projects Review V3N2 Addendum (available HERE) Note that both are case sensitive.
This design was featured in the F-23 derivatives article in the recent V3N2 issue of Aerospace Projects Review. The unusual geometry was an attempt as radar reflection shaping.
You can download a 15.5 megabyte version of this diagram; 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 8 of APR issue V3N2. The password: the first word in the body of the text on page 24 of the same issue. Note that both are case sensitive.
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
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:
A three-view drawing of the North American Rockwell FX, dated June 1969, with a good deal of dimensional and other data. Note the large ventral fins which fold out of the way for takeoff and landing.
You can download a 0.5 megabyte JPG file of the diagram. The link to the JPG file is HERE. To access it, you will need to enter a username and password. These are available on the first page of the Aerospace Projects Review V3N2 Addendum (available HERE) Note that both are case sensitive.
APR issues used to be published with a mishmash of of 8.5X11 and 11X17 pages. When I started releasing issues on MagCloud, APR became an all-8.5X11 publication.
However, there are oftentimes illustrations that would benefit from being on 11X17, such as many in issue V3N2. Additionally, there are often more illustrations than can be conveniently added to a coherent article. So I have put together an addendum for V3N2, including a number of larger-format illustrations and some new ones that didn’t make it into V3N2. This includes:
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The V3N2 Addendum can be downloaded directly from me for the low, low price of $5. To get the download, simply pay for it here through paypal.
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