transports – Page 18 – Aerospace Projects Review Blog

US Bomber Projects #15, Transports #04, Launchers #02 Now Available

bomber, Dyna Soar, hypersonic, jetliner, launch vehicles, nukes, rockets, space shuttle, spacecraft, spaceplane, stealth, transports, US Bomber Projects, US Launcher Projects, US Transport Projects, VTOL No Responses »

Jul 082015

Now available… three new additions to the US Aerospace Projects series.

US Bomber Projects #15

USBP#15 includes:

Bell D2001: A 1957 eight-engined Bell VTOL strike plane for the Navy
Lockheed “Harvey”: AKA the Hopeless Diamond, Lockheeds first design for what became the F-117
Convair Model 35: An early push-pull concept for the B-36
Rockwell D661-27: A nuclear powered strategic bomber
Boeing Model 464-49: The penultimate major design in the development of the B-52
Boeing Model 988-123: A highly agile stealthy strike fighter
Boeing Orbital Bomber: An early concept for a Dyna Soar derivative with eight nukes
Boeing Model 701-251: A twin engined concept on the road to the XB-59

USBP#15 can be purchased for downloading for the low, low price of $4.25.

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US Transport Projects #4

USTP#4 includes:

Boeing Model 473-13: An early twin-engine jetliner
ICARUS Troop Transport: 1,200 marines, anywhere, anytime
Republic Model 10 SST: A little known SST competitor
Lockheed CL-593: A giant, if slow, logistics transporter
Boeing 763-059 NLA: A whole lotta passengers in one place
Fairchild M-534: A B-36 converted into a vast cargo carrier
Lockheed CL-1201: Probably the largest aircraft ever designed
Oblique All-Wing Supersonic Airplane: A supersonic variable-orientation flying wing

USTP#4 can be purchased for downloading for the low, low price of $4.25.

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US Launch Vehicle Projects #2

USLP#2 includes:

Juno V, 4 stage: An early design that became the Saturn rocket
Boeing “Space Freighter”: a giant two-stage spaceplane for launching solar power satellites
Boeing NASP-D: A rare look at an operational National Aerospace Plane derivative
LLNL Mockingbird: The smallest SSTO ever designed
Boeing Model 922-101: A fully reusable Saturn V
NAR Phase B Space Shuttle: a fully reusable two-stage concept
Martin Marietta Inline SDV: A Shuttle-derived heavy lifter
Scaled Composites Model 351: The Stratolaunch carrier aircraft

USLP#2 can be purchased for downloading for the low, low price of $4.25.

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Jun 272015

(Post in progress…)

Click on the images to bring up a larger version…

MD-12

transports No Responses »

Jun 092015

The apparently original concept painting of the McDonnell-Douglas MD-12 showed up on eBay a few days back. The MD-12 was the last new aircraft that McD designed before being absorbed by Boeing; like the Boeing NLA and the Airbus A380, it was a big fat double decker designed to haul large numbers of passengers at once.

Bell D190B artwork

hi-rez, Patreon, transports, VTOL No Responses »

Apr 262015

Below is an artists impression of the Bell D190B, a tilt-duct VTOL derived in part from the X-22. The D190 series, dating from the early 1960’s, was for a more-or-less common airframe design that could carry out a number of missions. Interestingly, variants of this design were considered for “parasite” roles. The aircraft could hard-dock to the underside of a C-130; the larger transport aircraft could then haul the smaller VTOL around the world, where it could serve as a rescue plane (note the rectangular hatch on the top of the fuselage). Another idea was for the small VTOL to serve as a crew or passenger transfer system for EC-135J (707 derivatives) flying command posts, including transporting VIPs (read: politicians) away from nuclear strikes to orbiting escape planes.

Sadly, while I’ve found many bits and pieces on this over the years, I’ve yet to come across good design data. If anyone has anything, I’d love to see it.

I have made the full-rez version of this scan available at the APR Patreon for $4-and-up patrons. It is in the APR Patreon “Extras” Dropbox, in the 2015-04 folder.

Burnelli GB-888 artwork

hi-rez, jetliner, Patreon, transports 1 Response »

Apr 142015

Vincent Burnelli was an aircraft designer who specialized in lifting-fuselage aircraft… instead of a cylindrical tube, his fuselages were fat unswept wing cross-sections. The thinking was that this would reduce drag and increase lift and make the vehicles more structurally sound in the event of a crash; while in some cases testing did show some occasional advantages, on the whole these designs did not provide much if any aerodynamic advantage; and once aircraft started flying high enough to require pressurization, the non-circular cross section made pressurization difficult to achieve cost effectively. Sadly, any advantages these designs may have had have been overshadowed by the largely unhinged conspiracy theories that have sprung up around why they haven’t been adopted.

One of the last of Burnellis designs (from about 1962) was the “GB-888,” a supersonic jetliner of unusual configuration. Artwork reproduced below seems to date from the 1980s; here the SST has been relabeled an “aerospaceplane.” The idea, apparently, was to ride the coattails of the X-30 National Aero Space Plane, which had a *vaguely* similar lifting fuselage configuration. As drawn, of course, the GB-888 would make a terrible ASP… the windows on the sides would be melt nicely on re-entry; the sharp edges would concentrate aerothermal heating loads to a fantastic degree; and putting then engines on the top surface would do a fantastic job of getting them out of the airflow, assuring that the engines would not perform very well at all. Still, it’s interesting art.

I have made the high-rez of this illustration available for $4-level patrons at the APR Patreon.

US Bomber Projects #14, Transport Projects #03 Now Available

bomber, Dyna Soar, hypersonic, jetliner, launch vehicles, nukes, rockets, space shuttle, spacecraft, spaceplane, transports, US Bomber Projects, US Transport Projects No Responses »

Apr 062015

Now available… two new additions to the US Aerospace Projects series.

US Bomber Projects #14: System 464L Special

USBP#14 brings together the competitors to Weapon System 464L, the first major effort in the Dyna Soar program. These designs were previously shown individually in prior issues of USBP; here they are brought together, with some updates, as well as a few extra diagrams and a section of diagrams formatted for 11X17 printing. This issue includes info and diagrams of the Lockheed, Republic, General Dynamics, McDonnell, Boeing, Douglas, Northrop, North American and Martin-Bell entries as well as their various booster systems. Also included are detailed diagrams of the ultimate Dyna Soar design, the 2050E.

USBP#14 can be purchased for downloading for the low, low price of $6.25.

Also available:US Transport Projects #03.

Included in this issue:

Lockheed “Environmentally Responsible Aviation” box-wing jetliner
Martin Commercial Twin-Hull concept from 1942
North American Aviation NAC-60 SST competitor
McDonnell-Douglas Cargo Spanloader
Boeing Model 763-058 “New Large Airplane”
BoMi Passenger Transport Rocket
Lockheed L-152-1 early jet transport with unusual inlets
Aerial Relay System: for when crazy is preferred

USTP #03 can be purchased for download for only $4.25:

Asteroid mining crew transport

nukes, rockets, spacecraft, transports 16 Responses »

Apr 032015

Every now and then you stumble across something that provides tantalizing yet nonchalant hints to something amazing. Recently this occurred while perusing a Boeing report on closed life support systems for spacecraft. One concept mentioned and minimally described was a previous 1981 study of a spacecraft meant to transport crew to the asteroid belt for the purpose of mining asteroids for their resources. Just the basic concept was fairly amazing on its own, especially all the way back in 1981. Second: the propulsion system was vaguely described as a nuclear fusion system. Third: well, here’s the disappointingly small diagram that was included for illustration purposes. See if you can see what makes the design especially interesting…

What can be seen: three arms that rotate for artificial gravity; three vast radiator fins and a relatively tiny fusion engine in the tail. But what makes the design amazing: just in front of the spacecraft is a Space Shuttle Orbiter, giving a sense of scale to the vehicle. It’s *vast.* And it would have to be… the cargo transported to the asteroid was 150 metric tons. Plus the passengers, all 1,250 of them. All ONE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY of them.

The vehicle massed 10,000 tons; the powerplant (two 6 GW fusion reactors, spitting out 4.8 GW of thrust power, 2.8 GW of heat needing radiating and 4.4 GW of high energy neutron) massed 2000 tons; 4000 tons of hydrogen fuel; and 4000 tons of spacecraft/payload/passengers. The vehicle would boost for 11 days, coast for 226 days and brake for 13 days to rendezvous.

That, sadly, is all that’s available in the report I have. A FOIA request has been made for the reference that *seems* like might describe this further.

I hope to be able to define this vehicle further. As it is I can only guesstimate sizes; the habitation modules at the ends of the arms appear to be repurposed Shuttle External Tanks. But even nine of them would seem to be kinda cramped for 1250 people for two-thirds of a year… nearly 140 passengers per tank.

Mar 272015

I have made some adjustments to the Aerospace Projects Review Patreon campaign. The first is that I’ve reduced the number of rewards levels, which I was informed was previously Too Many. More importantly, I have added some new rewards: if you become a patron at $5 or more per month, you receive 10% off all future purchases of APR, US Aerospace Projects and downloadable Documents and Drawings. If you become a patron at $10 per month, you will receive 20% off any such purchases. Check of the APR Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=197906

Additionally, the campaign has reached the point where the rewards are now *three* aerospace documents, one high-rez historical diagram and one all-new CAD diagram per month. This is in addition to the random “Extras” I throw in for $4 and up patrons. The most recent extra is a full-rez restoration of a three-view diagram of a 1978 McDonnell-Douglas concept for modifying Skylab to be serviced by the Space Shuttle. You can see a smaller-rez version of that here: http://www.aerospaceprojectsreview.com/blog/?p=2153

If you sign up now you will get the latest rewards which include:

A Bell Aircraft presentation on the SR-126 Bomber Missile, a manned ICBM predecessor of the Dyna Soar
A Lockheed paper on the history of the Polaris to Trident Fleet Ballistic Missile
A large poster illustrating the missiles and rockets of the Orbital Sciences Corporation
An all-new CAD diagram detailing the 10-meter Orion nuclear pulse propulsion vehicle designed by General Atomic for the USAF

McDonnell-Douglas Model 260 VTOL model

transports, VTOL No Responses »

Mar 152015

Another ebay auction presents a display model of a transport version of the McD Model 260 VTOL from the 1970’s:

A great many Model 260 variants were designed, all based on the same basic concept: an aircraft shaped much like a corporate jet, featuring a pair of turbofan engines of very high bypass ratio located in shrouds which could unfold to direct the thrust downward for vertical lift and hover. Unlike the Rockwell XFV-12, the Model 260 could probably have worked, but it was never built.

Boeing 733 SST artwork

jetliner, Patreon, transports No Responses »

Feb 212015

A B&W version of a Boeing artists concept of their 733 Supersonic Transport.

I’ve made a high-rez version of this available at the APR Patreon, available to all patrons.

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