A fighter design that will likely turn up in a future issue of US Fighter Projects…
May 192020
Apr 052020
Once again Patreon seems to be becoming unstable. So I’ve got an alternate: The APR Monthly Historical Documents Program
For some years I have been operating the “Aerospace Projects Review Patreon” which provides monthly rewards in the form of high resolution scans of vintage aerospace diagrams, art and documents. This has worked pretty well, but it seems that perhaps some people might prefer to sign on more directly. Fortunately, PayPal provides the option not only for one-time purchases but also monthly subscriptions. By subscribing using the drop-down menu below, you will receive the same benefits as APR Patrons, but without going through Patreon itself.
Mar 182020
Given the craziness going on, I decided that what the world clearly needs is something consistent. Like, say, me posting one piece of aerospace diagram or art every day for a month or so. So I’m going to do that. But in order to keep people from getting too complacent, I’m posting some of them on this blog, some on the other blog. Why? Because why not, that’s why. I’m slapping the posts together now and scheduling them to show up one at a time, one a day. Given the pandemic… who knows, this little project might well outlive *me.*
So, check back in (on this blog or the other) on a daily basis. Might be something interesting.
Jan 092020
Air Force Displays Model Of Exotic And Potentially Revolutionary Hybrid Electric Airlifter
@AFResearchLab unveiled novel distributed propulsion concept vehicle at #aiaaSciTech – incorporating array of electric fans could be basis for ‘vision vehicle’ for future @usairforce STOL tactical airlifter pic.twitter.com/UXfdrehXr7
— Guy Norris (@AvWeekGuy) January 8, 2020
The propulsion system may be efficient, but it has the appearance of not being a particularly stealthy one, which makes for a schizophrenic contrast with the clearly stealthified fuselage. Amusingly, if you look closely the USAF insignia on the wings of the model are *deeply* engraved.
May 122019
A pretty detailed layout of the SR-71 pilots instruments.
I have uploaded the full resolution scan of the illustrations to the 2019-05 APR Extras Dropbox folder, available to $4 and up subscribers to the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.
Jul 222017
Currently being sold on eBay is a 4″x5″ transparency showing a Lockheed Skunk Works VTOL concept. I seem to recall this concept showing up in Av Week long ago… the 1990’s?
LOCKHEED SKUNK WORKS VTOL AIRCRAFT CONCEPT 4″X5″ COLOR TRANSPARENCY 01
Jul 162017
Every month, patrons of the Aerospace Projects Review Patreon campaign are rewarded with a bundle of documents and diagrams, items of interest and importance to aerospace history. If you sign up, you get the monthly rewards going forwards; the “back issues” catalog lets patrons aid the APR cause by picking up items from before they signed on. The catalog, available to all patrons at the APR Patreon, has been updated to include everything from the beginning of the project back in 2014 on up to February, 2017.
Below are the items from 2016 (and the first two months of 2017):
If you are interested in any of these and in helping to fund the mission of Aerospace Projects Review, drop by the APR Patreon page and sign up. For only a few bucks a month you can help fund the procurement, scanning and dissemination of interesting aerospace documentation that might otherwise vanish from the public.
Apr 152017
Now available: two new US Aerospace Projects issues:
US Transport Projects #07
US Transport Projects #07 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #07 includes:
- Lockheed L-279-9: an early SST
- Convair HST – Phase II Variable Sweep Configuration: A mid-1960’s hypersonic transport
- Lockheed CL-1373: a short-haul turboprop liner
- Boeing Model 702-134(4): a large nuclear-powered logistics hauler
- McDonnell-Douglas Swept Wing Spanloader: a heavy cargo carrier
- Lockheed Hybrid Wing Body: a current design for an efficient military transport
- NASA Cut-Down 747 SCA: a 1973 idea for a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft
- Rockwell Boost Glide Transport: An early 1970’s rocket transport
USTP #07 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4:
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Also available, the first in a new series:
US Recon and Research Projects #01
US Recon & Research Projects #01 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #01 includes:
- General Dynamics “FISH”: 1958 concept for Mach 4 parasite
- NACA-Langley X-Tail X-15: early hypersonic rocket plane concept
- “Jake’s Jeep”: WWII-era motorjet design
- Lockheed “Archangel”: The first step on the road to the SR-71
- Boeing Model 853-21 “Quiet Bird”: A 1961 stealth platform
- Northrop Tacit Blue: Operational version of the early stealth experiment
- Convair Pilotless Airplane I-40 Inhabited: WWII-era design of a manned test for a flying bomb
- Lockheed CL-278-1-1: a proto-U-2
USRP #01 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4:
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Apr 122017
So very, very close on the next two US Aerospace Projects issues. I’m only lacking cover “art”and have to deal with a bit of “dead air” in the middle of US Transport Projects #7. Usually I can shuffle things around well enough to not have this sort of thing, but this time it just hasn’t worked out. I suppose it doesn’t really matter all that much, but it does look kinda lazy like that.
It’s been about a year since I released the last USxP issue. That last issue was the first time where I used vector diagrams embedded within the issue, rather than raster images; getting the diagrams from AutoCAD into Word was a bit of a chore back then. And in the intervening months… I forgot how I did it. So I had to figure it out again, and the process is different. I have to walk the AutoCAD diagram through Rhino 3D and save as a WMF and blah, blah, blah; end result is it works just fine. I’ve done some further refinement… the main outlines are set at 0.25 mm width and the ends of the lines have been reset to rounded and mitered, so sharp corners now look more like sharp corners.
Hoping to have these two out in a day or two. The other three will be rather longer.
Apr 022017
I’m essentially done with the drafting portion of the exercise. Now to finish the writing. I had planned on releasing ll five at once, but due to external factors I’ll almost certainly have to split this up. So… which ones do people want more? The publications forthcoming are Fighters, Bombers, Transports, Launchers and Recon & Research. Comment below…
