jetliner – Page 11 – Aerospace Projects Review Blog

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.

Jun 302014

I have a pretty fair supply of interesting documents and large format drawings… but not an infinite supply. Consequently, I’m in the market. Do you have interesting aerospace (aircraft, missiles, spacecraft or even perhaps unusual naval or terrestrial projects) documents, large format diagrams or actual blueprints? If so, let’s talk. I’d like to borrow, rent or buy such things. My preference is of course for unbuilt projects, but basically *anything* interesting would be… interesting.

If you have something you’d be willing to share, but not give away, I’d be happy to scan it and send it back ASAP. Alternatively, I’d be happy with good scans.

Additionally: a lot of interesting stuff pops up on eBay. I am actively trolling eBay for such things; just bought two documents tonight. But there’s so much stuff on eBay, with such weird and divergent descriptions, that I can’t possibly hope to catch everything. So if you see something on eBay that looks interesting, by all means let me know.

Jun 282014

These are vastly-reduced versions of some of the diagrams I may include as rewards for Patreon patronage. Not all are unbuilt aerospace projects, obviously, but all are, I trust, of interest to those interested in aerospace. If interested, please consider joining my Patreon campaign. Also to be provided are PDFs of aerospace documents

Jun 282014

I’ve launched the Patreon funding campaign:

http://www.patreon.com/user?u=197906

If you appreciate the aerospace research I do and the stuff I dig up, please consider contributing. As a bonus, you will get goodies if you do! High rez large format diagram scans, brochures, reports, proposals, etc.

Pledge $0.75 or more per month

You get my thanks and a warm fuzzy feeling, knowing that you are contributing to saving the history of aerospace engineering!

Pledge $1.50 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 125 dpi

Pledge $3.00 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 200 dpi

Pledge $4.00 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 300 dpi

Pledge $5.00 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 300 dpi plus a bonus CAD diagram at 300 dpi, sized for 8.5X11

Pledge $6.00 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 300 dpi plus a bonus CAD diagram at 300 dpi sized for 11X17

Pledge $8.00 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 300 dpi plus a bonus CAD diagram at 300 dpi sized for 18X24 or larger AND the diagram in the native vector format

Pledge $10.00 or more per month

You will receive all the prior rewards, plus have the opportunity to vote on what will be released next.

Tell all your friends.

Northrop Flying Wing Airliner

jetliner, transports No Responses »

Jun 142014

Here’s another one of those “I was sure I’d posted it before, but now can’t seem to find it” items…

A 1948 promo video by Northrop showing a mockup of a passenger compartment to be built into a B-49-style flying wing. Very spacious, and with one heck of a view to the front and rear, but of course none to the side. The idea of flying wing airliners keeps popping up, but also keeps never happening. There are several decent reasons for this:

1) It’s more difficult to pressurize the non-cylindrical passenger compartment, meaning that it’ll weigh more (and thus negate some of the weight savings of using a flying wing)

2) Configurations like this won’t fit quite so conveniently at most airports. The jetways will have a hard time mating up.

3) Most of the passengers won’t have any sort of view at all, it’d be like flying in a cargo container.

4) The further a passenger is left or right from the centerline, the more disconcerting and uncomfortable rolling maneuvers will be for them.

5) It’s different. The Dash-80 (the prototype for what became the KC-135 and 707) set the basic configuration for the modern jetliner in 1954… 60 years ago. The most modern jetliners don’t really look any different. And like it or not, “convention” matters.

Northrop drawings of this jetliner are HERE.

[youtube JMTwQ9b5hvk]

NASA SST film, 1966

jetliner, transports 1 Response »

Jun 132014

An educational/promotional film from NASA describes the Supersonic Transport program as of 1966. Of interest are the wind tunnel models: they’re are the size of jet fighters. They don’t make ’em like that anymore…

[youtube u9BjJaDlOaQ]

Boeing 2707 SST Anatomy

jetliner, transports 1 Response »

Apr 082014

The innards of the initial Model 2707 SST from Boeing. Image originally from an ebay listing.

Boeing 733 SST art

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Apr 022014

Boeing artwork from December 1963 depicting the Model 733-197 swing-wing SST. Noteworthy is the resemblance to the later Rockwell B-1 bomber, except with less blending and separately podded engines.

Boeing 733 SST Cutaway

jetliner No Responses »

Mar 292014

A cutaway of an early Model 733 supersonic transport with swing-wings. From the Jay Miller archive.

“Windowless” Supersonic Business Jet

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Feb 212014

Spike Aerospace, about which I know approximately nothing, wants to build a Mach 1.6 SSBJ known as the S-512. For a SSBJ, it’s a fairly conventional design. However, what’s getting it some press is the idea that it won’t have any passenger compartment windows; instead, it will have a long window-like high-def display strip which will show an external view.

While it looks spiffy in the PR art… unless this display is some sort of sci-fi holographic display, it will looks distinctly “off” compared to a real window. If you are up front, for example, and you look out the “window” well aft, rather than showing you a view looking aft, it will show you a view looking off to the side.

Someday I imagine materials tech will be such that an actual window strip can be made for pressurized aircraft. And that… will be odd.

If the computer generated artwork on their site is anything to go by (and it may not be), the design does not seem to be very far advanced. The landing gear, for example… yeesh. Span is 60 feet, length 131 feet; 12 to 18 passengers; cruises at Mach 1.6, dash at Mach 1.8; MTOW = 84,000 lbs; engines, 2 P&W JT8D; range 4000 nautical miles. There are a few sonic boom-fighting elements… long nose, engines hidden above the fuselage, reduced number of surfaces. But it remains to be seen if the FAA would allow supersonic overflight of land areas in the US.

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Aerospace Projects Review Blog

Patreon: another milestone added

Drawings and documents: looking to acquire…

Some large-format diagrams for Patreon