Mike released a video on some of the stranger aircraft designed in the US since World War II. It includes a plethora of full-color concept paintings, including the first color rendering of the McDonnell Douglas ATB that I’ve seen.
May 092022
Mar 302022
The two aircraft are unrelated, apart from the fact that I have uploaded scans of each to the 2022-03 APR Extras folder on Dropbox for $4 and up patrons/Subscribers. The first is a brief magazine writeup showing illustrations of the Boeing and Ryan designs for the Compass Cope unmanned recon vehicles from the early 1970s; both of these would end up actually being built, though not quite in the configurations shown in the concept art. The second is a Convair inboard profile/plan view of the B-58A bomber, because why not.
The full-rez scans are, again, available to $4 and pup Patrons/Subscribers. If you would like to help fund the acquisition and preservation of such things, along with getting high quality scans for yourself, please consider signing on either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program. Back issues are available for purchase by patrons and subscribers.
Mar 052022
Yeesh, I am *terrible* at advertising. Just realized I missed reporting on *several* months worth of rewards packages for APR patrons and Monthly Historical Documents program subscribers.
December 2021 rewards:
Document: “B-52G Advanced Configuration Mockup inspection,” Boeing presentation on the design of the then-new B-52G configuration
Document: “Performance Potential Hydrogen Fueled, Airbreathing Cruise Aircraft, Final report, Volume I, Summary” 1966 Convair report on hydrogen fueled hypersonic jetliners
Document: “Integral Launch and Reentry Logistics System” late-60’s Space Division of North American Rockwell presentation on very early Space Shuttle-type systems
Art: Large format McDonnell Douglas DC-10 cutaway
CAD Diagram: Convair MA-1 pod for B-58
January 2022 rewards:
Document: “The Configuration of the European Spaceplane Hermes,” 1990 conference paper on the unbuilt French spaceplane
Document: “Space Rescue Charts,” 1965 USAF presentation charts describing space “life rafts” and shelters
Document: Two nuclear-powered car brochures… Ford “Gyron” and Ford “Seattle-ite XXI”
Diagram: “AGM28 Hound Dog Missile,” North American Aviation informational graphic
CAD Diagram: Boeing MX-1965 missile
February 2022 Rewards:
Diagram: Boeing 720-022 model diagram, United Airlines configuration
Document: Aerojet Ordnance Company brochure, describes aircraft ammo
Document: “The Nova (Liquid) Vehicle a Preliminary Project Development Plan,” October 1961 NASA-MSFC report on facilities planning for the “Saturn C-8” configuration of the Nova vehicle
Document: “Ground Handling Equipment and Procedures for a X-15 Research Aircraft Project 1226,” 1955 North American Aviation report on the early B-36-launched design for the X-15
CAD Diagram: F-111 Escape capsule
If you would like to help fund the acquisition and preservation of such things, along with getting high quality scans for yourself, please consider signing on either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program. Back issues are available for purchase by patrons and subscribers.
Jan 022022
It comes complete with a partial reading of a Chuck Tingle-esque bit of fan fiction *and* by far the superiorest rendition of “Diamonds are Forever” that will ever drip into your ears.
Nov 182021
My book on the B-52 is now being printed (I understand that copies physically exist), so it is perhaps a little late for additions and revisions. Still, I remain on the lookout for relevant information. To that end I recently plunked down a fair chunk of change for a pair of documents on ebay… a set of blueprints of the B-52G cockpit, and a B-52G mockup review. I eagerly await their arrival. I have high hopes that the US Postal Service won’t drop a tractor axle dipped in anthrax onto the package.
These will likely end up in the catalog for monthly rewards. If they are of interest, and/or if you would like to help fund the acquisition and preservation of such things, please consider signing on either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.
Nov 182021
Back in the day, aerospace companies would actively court the public, including those crazy kids who liked to make models. To that end, a number of aerospace companies would release surprisingly nice diagrams of their aircraft. North American Aviation was one such company, and one of their aircraft that they diagrammed for the public was the A3J-1 (later A-5) Vigilante supersonic carrier based bomber. Oddly, I’ve had trouble finding the full scale print of this… but then, I’ve had trouble finding *most* of the ones released by North American. Seems that they tended to not survive to make it to ebay. However, I recently acquired a copy of an old magazine that had the Vigilante diagram, reproduced reasonably well. Woo.
A 300 dpi scan of the diagram has been made available to $4 and up patrons/subscribers in the 2021-11 APR Extras Dropbox folder. A 600 dpi scan has been made available to above-$10 patrons/subscribers. If you would like to help fund the acquisition and preservation of such things, along with getting high quality scans for yourself, please consider signing on either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.
Oct 192021
Almost four years ago I posted about a project known as “Flashback,” a vaguely-described mid 1960’s program to carry and drop a giant *something* from a B-52. What it was, exactly, was not described with any clarity, but there were enough clues that I tentatively speculated that it was a design for an American “Tsar Bomb” with a yield of fifty or more megatons. To my knowledge I was the first person to yap about it publicly. I sent what I’d found to a few atomic and aerospace researchers to see if they knew anything. At the time, they were as mystified as I was.
Today there’s less mystery. I was contacted by one of the researchers I had contacted back then, letting me know he’s writing an article to appear in a month or so in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, covering Flashback among other things. He has Found Some Stuff. In short… Flashback was a design for a 50 to 100 megaton hydrogen bomb.
Giggitty.
Oct 142021
Here are some screenshots snagged from a not-quite-final version of the book, showing the sort of content you can expect from the final product.
As before it is available for pre-order from both the publisher and from Amazon:
Oct 082021
Sep 282021
My next book is slightly behind schedule, but it is coming. I was recently sent the first “proof” of the book after the graphic artists laid it out; a bit of tinkering yet, but it is nearing completion. I thought it might be interesting to post a shot of the last page.
