bomber – Page 15 – Aerospace Projects Review Blog

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

New Cyanotype Blueprints

bomber, hi-rez, jetliner, launch vehicles, rockets, space shuttle 1 Response »

Mar 122015

I have a batch of new large format cyanotype blueprints coming along (the files for the transparencies are at the print shop now). Weather permitting, I should start producing these in a week or so… but the question is: how many to print up? I’m not yet taking orders, but I am trying to gauge interest. So if you see something here you think you’ll want, please let me know via either comment or email. Remember that as well as the cost of the prints there will also be postage… $10 in the US, $18 elsewhere, regardless of how many prints are ordered.

2707-200 Supersonic Transport, 48 inches by 22: $50

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B-36D, 61 inches by 22: $60

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Shuttle diagrams, set A: 41 inches by 11 (two sheets): $50

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Shuttle diagrams, set B: 41 inches by 11 (five sheets): $125

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Trident SLBM: 49X11, $25

US Bomber Projects #13, US Launcher Projects #01

bomber, Dyna Soar, hypersonic, launch vehicles, Recon, rockets, space shuttle, spacecraft, spaceplane, US Bomber Projects, US Launcher Projects 2 Responses »

Mar 022015

Two new publications in the US Aerospace Projects series are now available.

Now available: US Bomber Projects #13. This issue includes:

Ryan Model 162: A VTOL strike/recon plane
Boeing Orbital Bomb: a nuclear-tipped re-entry glider
Northrop Atomic Wing: an asymetric nuclear powered design
Consolidated Vultee High Speed Flying Boat: an early post-war Skate design
Martin Model 189: a canard version of the B-26 Marauder
Boeing Model 464-046: A six-engined B-52 predecessor
Curtis F-87C: a night fighter with bomber abilities
Boeing Model 701-247: a supersonic antecedent of the B-59

USBP #13 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:

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Also available: US Launch Vehicle Projects #01. The premiere issue of this new series includes:

Pre-Saturn Phase III Vehicles: 1958 concpet for clustered Atlas boosters
Boeing “Big Onion”: an SSTO to launch SPS
Northrop TAV: an in-flight propellant transfer spaceplane
Martin Orbit Project: A 1946 concept for a hydrogen fueled SSTO
Saturn V derived HLLV for FLO: A brief Saturn V revival in the early 1990s
MSC Orbiter 020: An early Shuttle with straight wings and a single SRB
Hammerhead ET: a way for the Shuttle to transport outsized payloads
Loral Aquarius: A way to make space launch cheap

USLP #01 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:

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XB-70 Cutaway

bomber 1 Response »

Feb 182015

I have been busy with a number of things recently (some good, some bad), which has clearly reduced my Aerospace History blogification substantially. So… here’s a cutaway of the XB-70:

Granted, it’s tiny. However, a far bigger version of this illustration, created Way Back When for “Flight” magazine, is available on the Flight archives, right HERE. From back when such bits of beauty were created by hand.

Patreon: December rewards

bomber, Dyna Soar, fighter, hi-rez, hypersonic, Patreon, research, rockets, spacecraft, spaceplane, stealth No Responses »

Dec 262014

There was a delay getting the December rewards out, and a further delay in putting this notification together that the rewards are available… so it might be only a short-ish time before these are gone, replaced by the *January* rewards. So if these look of interest… act fast!

PDF Document: “Design Study for an Air Force Model F-82E Airplane Modified to a Ground Attack Aircraft with Allison XT-38 Turbo Prop Engine,” a North American Aviation report from 1948. This was not for a simple engine swap-out… the cockpits were moved forward and the engines located behind them, driving the props with long shafts.

PDF Document: “SAM-D Air Defense Weapon System,” a 1973 US Army description document of what would become the Patriot missile system.

Large Format Diagram: a large-format full-color (w/bonus grayscale versions) diagram of the X-20 Dyna Soar. Very detailed and clear. Looks great on a wall (believe me on that!)

CAD Diagram: Boeing Model 853-21 “Quiet Bird” a 1961 design study for a low radar cross section (i.e. stealthy) research aircraft.

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.

USBP #12 and ANED #01 Now Available

American Nuclear Explosive Devices, bomber, hypersonic, nukes, rockets, spaceplane, US Bomber Projects No Responses »

Dec 172014

The latest releases in the “US Aerospace Projects” line (see the full library HERE):

US Bomber Projects #12 contents:

Boeing Model 464-41: A turboprop B-52 predecessor
Boeing “Big Bird”: a long-durational, low-speed, low-altitude missile carrying loiterer
Douglas MX-2091-E: A 1950’s canard configured missile carrier
Boeing Model 701-238: A supersonic design on the road to the B-59
Northrop Nuclear Flying Wing: Atomic power with two crew pods
Martin Model 223-12: the final design in the XB-48 design series
Rockwell MRCC: An airplane that could be tossed into space atop an RSRM
Lockheed CL-820-8: A Mach 3 variable-geometry design

USBP #12 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:

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New: American Nuclear Explosive Devices #01

This is a prototype issue for what may become a series but which I hope to turn into a Real Book. The plan is to eventually document via accurate and detailed diagrams every nuclear explosive device produced by the US (obviously some are a little lean on declassified data). This includes bombs, Re-Entry Vehicles, a few actual “physics packages” and some stand-alone test devices. ANED01 contains information and diagrams of the first three atom bombs worked on by the US: the Thin Man and Little Boy air-droppable bombs and the Trinity “Gadget” test device. The American Nuclear Explosive Devices webpage is HERE.

ANED01 is formatted for 11X17, so the diagrams are good and large.

ANED #01 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4:

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X-37B and the Dyna Soar

bomber, Dyna Soar, hypersonic, nukes, Recon, research, rockets, spacecraft, spaceplane No Responses »

Oct 312014

I’ve written a short and illustrated piece on how the Dyna Soar can illustrate the possible capabilities of the X-37B over at War Is Boring:

Wondering What the U.S. Air Force’s Secretive Spaceplane Can Do? History Offers Clues

I am contemplating expanding this considerably for a separate release. It’d be a little different from the usual sort of thing I do, since the X-37B is a real flying vehicle, not just an unbuilt project.

US Bomber Projects 1-5 now at Amazon

bomber, future projects, hypersonic, jetliner, launch vehicles, nukes, rockets, spacecraft, spaceplane, stealth, US Bomber Projects No Responses »

Oct 292014

The first five issues of US Bomber Projects are now available as ebooks at Amazon. The links below not only take you to the Amazon listings, if you then buy something (*anything*, so fee free to splurge on laptops and cars and jewelry and such), I get a small commission.

I would appreciate feedback… everything from constructive criticism to reviews posted over at Amazon.

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If you dowloaded an early version of USBO01, it seems that you *can* download the latest version without re-buying it.

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.