Jun 142020
A piece of Boeing artwork depicting several early jetliner concepts. The B-47 design heritage is obvious. This piece was on ebay a while back, and while it wasn’t one that I won, I snagged a decently-high rez scan from the listing and have made it available to all $4 and up APR Patrons and Monthly Historical Document Subscribers. it has been uplosded into the June 2020 folder at Dropbox for those subscribers.
If this sort of thing is of interest, sign up either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.
I’m a fan of this and your other blog. This is my first comment on either. I’d like to know your thoughts on the engine placement of these designs. I’m no engineer, however I’m familiar with the concept of wing bending relief. That being said, these designs seem like they might be a challenge to handle in an asymmetric thrust situation. The four jet design places the twin pods pretty far out on the wing, while the six jet configuration places the twin pods in the outboard position, opposite of what was done on the B-47.
You’re not alone in being somewhat confounded by this engine arrangement. My best guess is that these wings were designed for maximum lightness, probably more so than for the B-47 (since jetliners wouldn’t need to worry about shockwaves and heavy maneuvers) and the engines were placed more outboard to counter the expected increase in bending. Engine-out would be nightmarish, especially if they lost both in a nacelle due to, say, turbine blades flinging about.