transports – Page 21 – Aerospace Projects Review Blog

Jul 042014

I have added another milestone to my Patreon campaign. If I get to $500 of patronage…

There are a lot of PDF (and Powerpoint) references available online that would be of interest to aerospace aficionados. But that’s kinda the problem: there are a *lot* of them. NASA alone has had millions of reports online. There are far too many for any one person to even try to get a handle on. However… I’ve got a handle on a great many of them. While they are – or in some cases were – freely available online, you’d have to know they existed first. Well… for many thousands of such reports… I know they exist. So at this milestone, I’ll post reviews, including illustrations, of two such reports or presentations per month. Additionally, I’ll post links to the reports or, in some cases, the reports themselves.

So rather than just some snipped images, you’ll get the images, a description of the report *and* the report itself, posted to the APR Blog. This is in addition to the reports, brochures, documents and diagrams that get sent to patrons, stuff that *isn’t* otherwise available.

Jun 302014

I have a pretty fair supply of interesting documents and large format drawings… but not an infinite supply. Consequently, I’m in the market. Do you have interesting aerospace (aircraft, missiles, spacecraft or even perhaps unusual naval or terrestrial projects) documents, large format diagrams or actual blueprints? If so, let’s talk. I’d like to borrow, rent or buy such things. My preference is of course for unbuilt projects, but basically *anything* interesting would be… interesting.

If you have something you’d be willing to share, but not give away, I’d be happy to scan it and send it back ASAP. Alternatively, I’d be happy with good scans.

Additionally: a lot of interesting stuff pops up on eBay. I am actively trolling eBay for such things; just bought two documents tonight. But there’s so much stuff on eBay, with such weird and divergent descriptions, that I can’t possibly hope to catch everything. So if you see something on eBay that looks interesting, by all means let me know.

Some documents for Patreon

bomber, fighter, hi-rez, launch vehicles, Patreon, rockets, space shuttle, spacecraft, spaceplane, transports 4 Responses »

Jun 302014

Here are photos of portions of a few documents I’m considering as Patreon rewards. These have not yet been scanned in; some will require a bit of effort to make them presentable, but all are pretty interesting in my view. If I understand the Patreon system correctly, the system debits the credit cards or PayPal accounts of those who have pledged at the “end of the month ” (any day now, I expect), and the rewards will be distributed a few days later – when I have them ready – to those who have been successfully charged. The upshot is that if you buy in the day *after* billing, you don’t get the rewards for this month, but only *next* month. So you miss out on the first batch. The $100 benchmark is safely in the past, and there seems to be a slow creep towards the $200 benchmark, which will mean two uploads as rewards for the first month is feasible. In the event that the contribution level gets there, I’ll try to have one large format drawing and one document per month, so long as that’s practical.

So if you don’t want to miss anything, sign up soon!

A NASA report from 1972 showing a *lot* of designs for Space Shuttle concepts. Includes designs that clearly foreshadowed the Shuttle as actually built, as well as some really wacky ones.

Two official aircraft recognition guides from the early 1950s to help ground observers tell friendlies from potential bandits.

A Convair report from 1948 on an assault seaplane. Includes a *lot* of excessively detailed design diagrams. This one might have to be broken up into several parts due to the size of it.

A report on the Regulus II missile which includes detailed diagrams of both the tactical missile version and the reusable test flight version. Some really snazzy large foldouts, which will require a bit of work to clean up.

Jun 282014

These are vastly-reduced versions of some of the diagrams I may include as rewards for Patreon patronage. Not all are unbuilt aerospace projects, obviously, but all are, I trust, of interest to those interested in aerospace. If interested, please consider joining my Patreon campaign. Also to be provided are PDFs of aerospace documents

Jun 282014

I’ve launched the Patreon funding campaign:

http://www.patreon.com/user?u=197906

If you appreciate the aerospace research I do and the stuff I dig up, please consider contributing. As a bonus, you will get goodies if you do! High rez large format diagram scans, brochures, reports, proposals, etc.

Pledge $0.75 or more per month

You get my thanks and a warm fuzzy feeling, knowing that you are contributing to saving the history of aerospace engineering!

Pledge $1.50 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 125 dpi

Pledge $3.00 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 200 dpi

Pledge $4.00 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 300 dpi

Pledge $5.00 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 300 dpi plus a bonus CAD diagram at 300 dpi, sized for 8.5X11

Pledge $6.00 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 300 dpi plus a bonus CAD diagram at 300 dpi sized for 11X17

Pledge $8.00 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 300 dpi plus a bonus CAD diagram at 300 dpi sized for 18X24 or larger AND the diagram in the native vector format

Pledge $10.00 or more per month

You will receive all the prior rewards, plus have the opportunity to vote on what will be released next.

Tell all your friends.

Northrop Flying Wing Airliner

jetliner, transports No Responses »

Jun 142014

Here’s another one of those “I was sure I’d posted it before, but now can’t seem to find it” items…

A 1948 promo video by Northrop showing a mockup of a passenger compartment to be built into a B-49-style flying wing. Very spacious, and with one heck of a view to the front and rear, but of course none to the side. The idea of flying wing airliners keeps popping up, but also keeps never happening. There are several decent reasons for this:

1) It’s more difficult to pressurize the non-cylindrical passenger compartment, meaning that it’ll weigh more (and thus negate some of the weight savings of using a flying wing)

2) Configurations like this won’t fit quite so conveniently at most airports. The jetways will have a hard time mating up.

3) Most of the passengers won’t have any sort of view at all, it’d be like flying in a cargo container.

4) The further a passenger is left or right from the centerline, the more disconcerting and uncomfortable rolling maneuvers will be for them.

5) It’s different. The Dash-80 (the prototype for what became the KC-135 and 707) set the basic configuration for the modern jetliner in 1954… 60 years ago. The most modern jetliners don’t really look any different. And like it or not, “convention” matters.

Northrop drawings of this jetliner are HERE.

[youtube JMTwQ9b5hvk]

NASA SST film, 1966

jetliner, transports 1 Response »

Jun 132014

An educational/promotional film from NASA describes the Supersonic Transport program as of 1966. Of interest are the wind tunnel models: they’re are the size of jet fighters. They don’t make ’em like that anymore…

[youtube u9BjJaDlOaQ]

Aero-X Hoverbike

future projects, transports, VTOL No Responses »

May 242014

I know nothing of this company apart from what’s on the website. They’ve built some sort of prototype that seems capable of hovering and forward motion while in ground effect; that’s a good start, but far from what’s really needed for a truly practical flying motorbike (though it appears that what they’re currently working on is essentially a ground-hugging hovercraft-like vehicle, not a free-flyer). Note that the videos on the website also have the sound shut off, possibly because the prototype is probably loud enough to give bystanders brain damage.

I admit to being somewhat stumped about the utility of the thing if it can’t fly freely. Seems an expensive way to build something that could be done better by a standard ATV. On the other hand, if a future version is powerful enough to fly freely – and almost certainly controlled almost entirely by computer – I can see a lot of interest in such a thing.

http://aerofex.com/theaerox/

Ryan flex-wing flying boat for the Army

ships, transports 1 Response »

Apr 292014

The San Diego Air and Space Museum has posted a great many images to Flickr, including a fair amount of concept art. One piece (you can see the best-rez version HERE) depicts a Ryan Aeronautical concept for an air boat equipped with a Flex-Wing. Date would probably have been around 1962, plus or minus a few years. The exact role here is a bit obscure… why would the Army have boats like this? Perhaps a troops transport of some type, though a helicopter would probably be a better choice.