Continuing. This time, discussion of possibilities of higher thrust SSMEs including the SSME-150 with an extendable nozzle. Once again this would be for increased payload capability, in particular 32,000 pounds to polar orbit from Vandenburg.
Hey. Hey.
Continuing. This time, discussion of possibilities of swapping out existing Orbiter structures with graphite composites. The advantage would be lowered dry mass of the Orbiter, leading to potentially higher payload performance. this would, presumably, be of interest for USAF launches from Vandenburg, a possibility that Challenger put to bed.
If this sort of stuff is of interest or use, why not help support the project? A monthly subscription to the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program would not only help support the project, it would also provide you with a monthly package of rare aerospace documents and diagrams.
Around three years ago I posted some rather cruddy images of a saucer-shaped nuclear-powered spacecraft that the Chrysler corporation drew up in 1956. At this time a manned spacecraft was a perfectly normal sort of thing for Chrysler to design; their aerospace division was responsible for the Redstone missile and the Saturn I first stage. One of the images was a small scan of the cover of the August-September 1957 issue of “Saucer News.” I finally managed to score a copy of this “fanzine”on ebay a while back and have scanned the cover at high (600 dpi) resolution. The image quality is a bit regrettable, but what can you expect from a 1950’s UFO magazine.
As always, if anyone might happen to know anything more about this design, I’m all ears. Chrysler long ago got rid of their aerospace division and whatever archive it might have had.
I have uploaded the full resolution scan to the 2019-08 APR Extras Dropbox folder, available to $4 and up subscribers to the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.
One sizable document I’ve scanned for preservation is a Rockwell presentation package from October, 1985, showing a large number of space programs that the company could capitalize on. These included everything from minor mods to the Space Shuttle to major changes… stretching the orbiter, stretching the tank, adding additional boosters. Heavy lift boosters to put SLS to shame; heavy lift SSTOs; small experimental spaceplanes; manned military spaceplanes; space-based weaponry; space stations; space based nuclear power. Figured this stuff might be of some modest interest. So why not, I’ll post little bits of it from time to time.
Some time back I came across a few diagrams of the Martin B-57B&C bomber.
I have uploaded the full resolution scans (600 dpi) to the 2019-08 APR Extras Dropbox folder, available to $4 and up subscribers to the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.
In 1964 Lockheed put forward a design in the US Army’s Advanced Aerial Fire Support System (AAFSS) program that would eventually win and become the AH-56 Cheyenne. But Lockheed was not alone in tendering a proposal: Sikorsky entered their S-66 design.
Both helicopters would have been advanced and fast. Lockheed made the AH-56 fast by adding a pusher prop to the tail, just aft of the conventional anti-torque rotor. But Sikorsky went a slightly different route: the S-66 used the “rotaprop” tail. This combined anti-torque duties with forward thrust in a single mechanism… a single somewhat complicated mechanism that could turn the sideways-thrusting anti-torque rotor 90 degrees to point it aft, providing forward thrust. This would have decreased drag and potentially decreased weight, but at added technical risk compared to the relatively simple solution of just adding a dedicated pusher prop. In late 1965, the Army decided that the risk was too high, and went with Lockheeds design.
The S-66 design got a fair amount of publicity during the contest, but I’ve never actually run across the proposal documentation or design diagrams. A few photos of a display model and a single cutaway drawing are presented HERE. Below are some magazine illustrations of the S-66. It would have been an impressive helicopter had it been built and if it had been successful, looking not unlike a sleeker version of the Mil 24 Hind attack helicopter.
McDonnell Douglas spent much of the 1970’s trying to get NASA, the Marines and the Navy to fund the development of a lift-fan-based VTOL aircraft concept, the Model 260. This general concept showed up in a number of different forms, from strike bomber to carrier onboard delivery transport to Marine troop transport. Shown below is a”Research Technology Aircraft,” a proof of concept prototype to be assembled from existing aircraft components, much as Rockwell did with the XFV-12.
I’ve made the full resolution version of the diagram (equivalent to 37 inches wide at 300dpi) available to above-$10-subscribers of the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program/Patreon.
If this sort of thing is of interest, consider subscribing. Even a buck a month will help out; but the more you subscribe for, the more you get… and the more you help me get from eBay and save for the ages.
Now available… the newest and biggest issue in the US Aerospace Projects line.
Cover art was provided by Rob Parthoens, www.baroba.be
US Launch Vehicle Projects #06 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #6 is devoted to the launch vehicles proposed for the 1970’s Solar Power Satellite program. This required millions of tons of payload delivered into Earth orbit over a span of decades, with flight rates of several times per day for each vehicle. This program produced some of the largest and most ambitious launch vehicles ever designed, and was the last time that launchers of this size were ever seriously contemplated. Appropriately, USLP#6 is by far the largest issue of US Aerospace projects to date at over seventy pages, three times the size of a usual issue.
Topics in this issue include the Rockwell Star-Raker, several Boeing Space Freighters, the Boeing “Big Onion” Low Cost Heavy Lift Vehicle (antecedent and descendant designs), a Grumman two-stage HLLV, a Rockwell HLLV and “small” HLLV, NASA-JSC heavy lifters, a Boeing/Rockwell Personnel Launch Vehicle and a Boeing winged SSTO. Along with orthogonal views, a number of perspective diagrams are also included.
USLP #6 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $9:
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One of Lockheed’s first designs for a jetliner, 1945’s L-151, was basically a Constellation with the piston engines replaced with two clusters of three turbojets. It was a terribly conservative design, and likely would not have performed very well at all, particularly on range… but it was a start.
Diagram is from US Transport Projects #2.
