I’d planned on having these done a few days ago, but as I’ve reported recently, CAD drafting has been difficult of late. Nevertheless I forged through, and here’s a preview of the next three things I plan to release.
Oct 142014
Sep 152014
Artwork showing the major Dyna Soar/Titan III contractors. The Titan IIIc show here includes the large pitch stabilization fins (and small yaw fins) attached to the solid rocket boosters. Not depicted are the thrust vector control fluid tanks. At the time, the fins were thought needed to counteract the pitch moment that would be produced by the wings of the spaceplane way up front. In the end, it was concluded that thrust vector control would be more than adequate for the task; and while the Titan IIIC never launched a Dyan Soar, it retained the TVC capabilities that were produced to deal with the Dyna Soar.
Much, much more on the Dyna Soar, including the final few Titan III variants, can be found in Aerospace Projects Review issue V3N4.
Sep 042014
Issues 09 and 10 of US Bomber Projects is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #09 includes:
- Boeing Model 464-33-0: A turboprop B-52 predecessor
- Consolidated Army Bombardment Flying Wing: A ground attacker with an extreme mode of attack
- GE Supersonic System 6X: A Mach 3 nuclear-powered bomber
- Convair B/J-58: A supercuising version of the Hustler
- Boeing model 484-2-2: AB-58 competitor
- Northrop 464L: A blended wing/body spaceplane
- Martin Model 223-9: a 1944 step on the road to the XB-48
- Boeing Model 800-15A: A Mach 3.5 hydrogen fueled design of incredible range
USBP#09 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:
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Issue #10 includes:
- Boeing Model 464-34-3: A turboprop B-52 predecessor
- Martin Model 192-5: A medium-sized flying wing
- Republic Mach 7: a relatively small high-speed design
- Convair WS-125A: A large nuclear powered supersonic design
- Boeing model 484-415: A jet-powered supersonic flying boat
- Boeing 464L: Boeings first Dyna Soar
- Martin Model 223-10: a 1944 step on the road to the XB-48
- Lockheed CL-1301-1: A very small VTOL ground attacker
USBP#10 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:
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Aug 072014
I’ve got the August rewards just about ready to go. When I make them available for the current Patreon supporters, the July rewards will be replaced. So if you are interested in the July items, time runs real, real short.
1) A large format diagram of the B/J-58, a Convair concept for a two-engine tactical B-58
2) A PDF document, “Manned Space Stations and Alternatives” which covers Gemini and Dyna Soar-based small MOL-like station concepts, and includes info on the Gemini satellite inspector/interceptor
3) Two CAD diagrams, one of the McDonnell-Douglas Model 192 ISINGLASS hypersonic rocket-powered recon platform, the other comparing the Titan IIIC with the Titan IIIC/Dyna Soar and the Titan IIIM/MOL.
If you’d be interested in helping me dig up and release this sort of obscure aerospace historical material, or if you want to get in on the rewards, please consider joining my Patreon.
Jul 262014
I’ve cut the prices on all my cyanotypes by at least 25%, up to 40%. I’ve also gotten rid of the watercolor versions; it’s all vellum paper now (not only is it more historically accurate, it’s also a lot easier to process and ship).
So… take a look.
Cyanotype Blueprints
Jul 212014
For $10 patrons on my Patreon campaign, a new message should appear there asking you to vote on what I’ll release in August (two documents and one large format diagram). For those who are $10 patrons, here’s a partial list anyway… if you see something there and you really want to make sure it becomes available, well, the obvious thing to do is sign on and vote!
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Drawing: fairly detailed 3-view of Lunar Roving Vehicle (as actually flown to the moon)
Drawing: “Plans for Scale Model Construction of the Honest John Surface-to-Surface Missile” by McDonnell-Douglas, 1971 (does anyone know of more of these???)
Document: “Douglas Aircraft Company: An Overview,” 60+ page brochure showing existing and proposed jetliners, by McDonnell-Douglas, ca. 1980
Art: a vintage lithograph of the Lockheed L-2000 SST in flight, w/3 view on the back.
Document: “CT-39 International Sabreliner,” a Rockwell International booklet/brochure describing the multipurpose utility jet
Document: “Air Force Expeditionary Catapult,” a truly massive billet of paper serving as a proposal from the All American Engineering Company for the System 300 Catapult, 1955. This was to be a turbojet-powered cable launching system for jet fighters which could be easily transported and set up in the field. (NOTE: this one counts as two reports, as it’s fairly gigantic)
Document: Aeroassisted Flight Experiment Nonadvocate Review, 1989, NASA
Document: Pocket Data for Rocket Engines, 1953, Bell
Document: SAM-D Air Defense Weapon System, 1973, US Army
Document: Pilots Handbook of Operation XLR11-RM-3 & XLR11-RM-5, liquid Rocket Engines, 1950, Reaction Motors
Art: X-15 lithograph (date unknown)
Document: The Centaur Program, 1961, Convair
Document: Orbiter Vehicle Structures, Rockwell
Document: An integrated Moonmobile-Spacesuit Concept, 1961, Aerojet
Document: The Intercontinental Stratoliner 707-320, 1955, Boeing
Document: Douglas DC-8 Design Study, 1953, Douglas
Document: Transport Weight Comparison Based on Lockheed 49-10, 1943, Lockheed
Document: ETR Launch Operations Plan for Cenaur on Shuttle, 1979, General Dynamics
Diagram: MD-11 wing diagram, six-feet long: McDonnel-Douglas, 1995
Document: A Lockheed presentation on the GL-224 Turbo-Jet VTOL Aircraft, 1958
Document: A Project RAND report on the GG-2 all-wing bomber, 1949
Document: A small Rockwell brochure on the “common core” concept for a fixed-wing subsonic B-1 variant, 1979 4) A presentation on the Douglas “Skybus,” 1944
Document: A NAA report on a turboprop-powered F-82E for ground attack, 1949
Document: A Curtis report on the twin engined F-87C, 1948
Document: A Vertol report on VTOL transport aircraft, showing several very different configurations, 1956
Document: A Lockheed presentation to the AIAA on the history of the Fleet Ballistic Missile, 1978
Document: A collection of Manned Spacecraft Center Space Shuttle orbiter concepts, 1972
Document: A Convair collection of design drawings of an Assault Seaplane, 1948 (NOTE: this one counts as two reports, as it’s fairly gigantic)
Document: A Vought report on the Regulus II missile with detailed diagrams, 1955
Jul 202014
I’m about $21 short of the next milestone, which will result in two “PDF reviews” per month of little-known online aerospace history resources. So if that idea appeals… consider signing up (and telling all your friends who have a few dimes to rub together).
Also: in August there will be three documents/large format diagrams released, along with three CAD diagrams. The documents/LFD’s are yet to be chosen (the $10 patron will get to vote on this in the next week or so), but the CAD diagrams are underway. One is already basically complete: the first accurate and clean, large 3-view diagram of the Northrop Tacit Blue demonstrator. The second will be of a proposed launch vehicle. The third is still up in the air.
Jul 102014
The first month of my Patreon thingie is up and running now. Available – until next month, when they’ll be replaced by the next set of stuff – are the following:
1) A large format diagram of the B/J-58, a Convair concept for a two-engine tactical B-58
2) A PDF document, “Manned Space Stations and Alternatives” which covers Gemini and Dyna Soar-based small MOL-like station concepts, and includes info on the Gemini satellite inspector/interceptor
3) Two CAD diagrams, one of the McDonnell-Douglas Model 192 ISINGLASS hypersonic rocket-powered recon platform, the other comparing the Titan IIIC with the Titan IIIC/Dyna Soar and the Titan IIIM/MOL.
If you’d be interested in helping me dig up and release this sort of obscure aerospace historical material, or if you want to get in on the rewards, please consider joining my Patreon.
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.
Jul 042014
The photo archives of the Baltimore Sun newspaper is being sold off on eBay. A whole lot of really old glossies of every vaguely newsworthy subject… including rockets and spacecraft. Two which caught my eye are listed as “Dyna Soar” designs, but clearly aren’t. What they are is hard to discern. They have the look of late 50’s, early 60’s aerospace concept art, but the ships shown look a little too sci-fi to necessarily be products of the aerospace industry. Instead, they might be products of the *news* industry… someone wrote an article about the Dyna Soar, and someone at the Baltimore Sun – or perhaps the AP, LA Times or some other newscorp – painted these images, dreaming them up out of whole cloth. The certainly look “cool,” but I’m much less convinced that they look “practical.”
This one depicts what appears to be a glideback first stage, designed around the F-117’s stealth facetting principles. Those wingtips look like they aren’t long for this world, as they will almost certainly be banged into the runway. Actually, it looks like they project substantially lower than the aft landing skids, meaning that the wingtips will *necessarily* dig into the ground. No date given; however, it appears to have been associated with the following image, which dates from June, 1959.
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This image shows a USAF vehicle of some type. Again it is described as “Dyna Soar,” but it clearly isn’t. It appears to be a four-jet-engine aircraft, probably a bomber; the wide, flat forward fuselage is a bit of a stumper.
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This one at least comes with good captioning, and is clearly an LA Times artist impression of a Dyna Soar vehicle based on a wind tunnel model.
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They, especially the first two, are certainly interesting. But at $17 each, they’re a bit too rich for my blood. So if any of y’all pull the trigger and buy them, please keep me in mind if you take them near a scanner…