Recon – Page 3 – Aerospace Projects Review Blog

A little Preview of “B-47/B-52”

B-47 and B-52 Origins and Evolution, bomber, Dyna Soar, jetliner, launch vehicles, nukes, Recon, research, rockets, spacecraft, spaceplane, transports, VTOL No Responses »

Apr 302021

Here is an incomplete look at the diagrams created for my first book, “Boeing B-47 Stratojet and B-52 Stratofortress; Origins & Evolution.” It can be pre-ordered either directly from the publisher (with publication expected in late September) or through Amazon (looks like they’ll have it two months later). It is also expected to be on certain store shelves… more on that when it’s confirmed.

A few of these diagrams will be compressed to several-per-page; a few of them here are already shown in multiple optional layouts. But there are also a dozen-ish diagrams *not* shown because they are incomplete as yet. This gives an indication of the size and scope of the project…

March 2021 rewards

bomber, hi-rez, hypersonic, jetliner, launch vehicles, Monthly Historical Documents Program, Patreon, Recon, rockets, space shuttle, spacecraft, spaceplane, transports, VTOL No Responses »

Mar 312021

Just released, the March 2021 rewards for APR Patrons and Subscribers. Included this month:

Diagram/art: a large format scan of an artists concept of the XC-14. This was printed with a large number of signatures; they seem to be Boeing engineers.

Document 1: “Project Hummingbird.” An FAA document summarizing the characteristics of STOL and VTOL aircraft circa 1961, including bogh built and proposed types. This was scanned from a clean original!

Document 2: “The Thor Missile Story.” Old, old, incredibly old school media… a film strip propaganda piece about the statues of the Thor IRBM.

CAD diagram: the WWII era German DFS 228 rocket powered high altitude recon plane, proposed operational version.

If this sort of thing is of interest, sign up either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.

Because I forgot to mention the January and February rewards… subscribers/patrons got these (new subscribers can order them as back issues):

January 2021: Titan IIIC/IIIM booster rockets; CAD diagram of Post-Saturn concepts; a Convair Heavy Bombardment Airplane brochure; a fractional XF-103 mockup review and technical description; a fractional Westland paper on VTOL; a General Dynamics report on a proposed turboprop transport for Saturn stages.

February, 2021: An Aerion SST brochure; a Lockheed SST diagram; Dornbergers report on a commercial rocket powered airliner (scanned from a clean vintage copy); an early Convair jet flying boat bomber brochure; a CAD diagram comparing General Atomics’ ten-meter Orions for the USAF and NASA.

XB-58 Pods

bomber, nukes, Recon No Responses »

Mar 062021

From well before the B-58 program began, the Convair designers intended for their four-engined supersonic bomber to have a relatively gigantic pod underneath containing fuel and a nuke. The illustration below shows an early B-58 concept with the outboard engine nacelles located above the wing, together with a collection of potential bomb/fuel pods. “Freefall” contains an H-bomb; “Ferret” is electronic intelligence gathering; photo recon is obvious; and PPB is… hmmm. Note that none of these seem to have rockets in the tail, the ferret and photo recon pods doubtless were intended to return with the aircraft rather than be dropped.

MA20S-4 Ramjet

Recon, stealth No Responses »

Jan 172021

An exploded view of the Marquardt ramjet engine that powered the Lockheed D-21B. The engine was derived from the ramjet that powered the Bomarc missile; interestingly, it went from a SAM engine that ran for at most fifteen minutes to a continent-crossing drone engine that ran for an hour and a half. The D-21 program was riddled with failures, but the engine was not a real source of trouble. What did become a minor source of trouble: after the seventeen surviving D-21s were mothballed, the nosecones of the engines had to be specially removed: being made of a thorium alloy, they were slightly radioactive.

NAA B-70 Valkyrie Variants

bomber, Dyna Soar, hypersonic, jetliner, launch vehicles, nukes, PDF Review, Recon, research, rockets, spacecraft, spaceplane, transports, VTOL No Responses »

Nov 242020

Hey! Anybody hereabouts interested in unbuilt variants of the North American B-70 bomber? I know a guy who can hook you up:

https://media.defense.gov/2020/Nov/23/2002540204/-1/-1/1/B-70%20VARIANTS.PDF

An official publication from the AFMC History Office, edited by noted aerospace author Tony R. Landis. Recommended.

C-130 AWACS art

Recon, transports No Responses »

Nov 072020

A piece of art that was on ebay a while back depicting a C-130 Hercules converted into an AWACS-like aircraft by the inclusion of a radar rotodome to the top of the vertical fin. This may look a little odd, but it was a good position for such a radar system as it puts it above all aircraft components.

Aug 212020

MX-2276 BoMi

bomber, Dyna Soar, hypersonic, launch vehicles, nukes, Recon, rockets, space shuttle, spacecraft, spaceplane No Responses »

Jun 262020

Before the Convair Atlas ICBM proved that it was possible for a rocket to reach out across the world and deposit some canned sunlight reliably close to commie targets, it was understood that the only way to accomplish the task was with pilots and bombardiers. But by the mid 1950’s the idea of subsonic manned bombers sneaking into the heart of the Soviet Union without getting swatted was starting to seem nonsensical. So Bell Aircraft, under the direction of former V-2 program director Walter Dornberger, dreamed up the MX-2276: a three-stage manned rocket bomber. Looking akin to an evolved Sanger Antipodal Bomber, the MX-2276 used two manned and winged stages, with an unmanned expendable stage in between. The final stage would carry a single gliding nuclear warhead deep into the USSR, using the human crew to attain some measure of accuracy.

But then the Atlas came along and ruined all that.

The idea persisted, however, turning first into the Bomber Missile (BoMi) then the Rocket Bomber (RoBo) then Dyna Soar. With each step it became less fantastical, and also less of a dedicated weapon system; by the end of the Dyna Soar, it was a one-man experimental re-entry vehicle launched by a fully expendable Titan IIIC. Since then the idea of a “rocket bomber” has popped up from time to time, but never with the level of seriousness displayed in the mid/late 1950’s. For more on the whole BoMi program, see Aerospace projects Review issues V2N2, V2N3 and V2N4. APR issue V3N4 gives a pretty complete rundown of the final Model 2050E Dyna Soar.

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.

A month of aerospace

bomber, fighter, hypersonic, jetliner, launch vehicles, nukes, Recon, research, rockets, ships, space shuttle, space station, spacecraft, spaceplane, stealth, transports, VTOL No Responses »

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.

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