Aerospace Projects Review, Volumes 4 and 5

 bomber, Dyna Soar, fighter, future projects, hypersonic, jetliner, launch vehicles, nukes, Recon, research, rockets, space shuttle, spacecraft, spaceplane, stealth, transports, VTOL  2 Responses »
Nov 212013
 

The complete rework of APR from the original release a decade ago is going a lot slower than I’d planned. A lot of people have asked for the original versions of the as-yet-unreleased issues of APR to be made available. I’ve been hesitant to do so, but… it’s just taking too long. So, I’ve taken the original Word files for the six issues of Volume 4 and the six issues of Volume 5, and made two PDF files from them. I’m making them temporarily available as two bulk sets. When the issues are re-released, these full-volume sets will be withdrawn. So, Volume 5 might remain available till the sun explodes, I dunno…

If you’re dying to get hold of the old-school APRs, here’s your chance. Remember, these are the *original* files from around 2002-2004, without any updates, edits or other changes. Errors, crappy formatting and all. A bunch of the individual old articles remain available as well.

APR Original Run Volume 4 downloadable PDF: $30

 

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APR Original Run Volume 5 downloadable PDF: $30

 

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Here are the contents:

 

Volume 4:

The X-15 Research Airplane Competition: The Bell Aircraft Proposal by Dennis R. Jenkins
First in a series of articles describing the competitors for the X-15

Lockheed Model L-153 Part 2 by Bill Slayton
Immediately post-war M-wing jet fighter designs

Cobras Of The Field by Scott Lowther
Modified helicopters for ag duty

Lockheed Model L-153 Part 3 by Bill Slayton
Immediately post-war swept-wing jet fighter designs

The X-15 Research Airplane Competition: The Douglas Aircraft Proposal by Dennis R. Jenkins
The Douglas competitor for the X-15

The Martin “Spacemaster” by Scott Lowther
An unconventional design competitor for the Shuttle

Radial Engine P-51 Mustang by Scott Lowther
A little-known modification to the supreme WWII fighter

The X-15 Research Airplane Competition: The Republic Aviation Proposal by Dennis R. Jenkins
The Republic competitor for the X-15

Boeing Super Clippers, then and Now by Scott Lowther
Truly grand aircraft

The X-15 Research Airplane Competition: The North American Proposal by Dennis R. Jenkins
The winning competitor for the X-15

The HFB 530 Ranger by Mike Hirschberg A German VTOL strike/recon design

Lockheed Model L-153 Part 4 by Bill Slayton
Early Post-war variable geometry fighters

Sonic Cruiser Update by Scott Lowther
New drawings of a new aircraft

LARA Craft: COIN Raiders by Scott Lowther
A long way to go for a bad pun for some tough aircraft

English MUSTARD by Scott Lowther
An early 1960’s British fully reusable Space Shuttle

The NACA’s First Jet by Scott Lowther
The last gasp for ducted fans prior to the turbojet

Addendum to Issue V4N5
Ooops.

The Hopeless Diamond by Scott Lowther
The first cut of the stealth fighter

Sea Dragon by Scott Lowther
A giant, dirt-cheap launch vehicle

North American NA-116 by Scott Lowther
A long-range bomber

Multibody Designs From Lockheed by Scott Lowther
Unconventional yet fuel efficient designs

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Volume 5:

Editor’s Gratuitous Additions: Republic XF-103
A little bit of extra info.

Republic XF-103 by Dennis R. Jenkins
About as sleek as an aircraft can get.

Boeing’s Advanced Multipurpose Large Launch Vehicle by Scott Lowther
Perhaps the most powerful space launcher ever seriously conceived.

McDonnell Douglas GRM-29A by Scott Lowther
Just about the coolest spaceplane ever… but would it have worked???

The Rockwell XFV-12A V/STOL Prototype by Dana E. Lubich
It came close…

XFV-12A Followons by Scott Lowther
The end of the program wasn’t the end of the concept

Hawker Siddeley HS 141 by Scott Lowther
VTOL jetliner concept

Bell/Boeing Armed XV-15 by Scott Lowther
A tilt rotor with a mission

Lockheed Sea Sitter by Scott Lowther
A seaplane to conquer the oceans

Early Atlas Missile Designs by Scott Lowther
Evolution of America’s first ICBM

Boeing’s Air-Launched Micro-Fighters by Scott Lowther
The fighter needed for a flying aircraft carrier

Chrysler SERV by Scott Lowther
An SSTO Space Shuttle design

Soviet Seaplane Jet Bombers by Thomas Mueller and Jens Baganz
A counterpoint to American efforts

4,000 Ton Orion by Scott Lowther
Recently declassified data on a large nuclear pulse propulsion craft

Mart Model 262 by Scott Lowther
A mysteriously delayed article on VTOL fighters…

NASA Langley High Speed Civil Transport by Scott Lowther
Mach 3 and Mach 4 transports from the late 1980’s

Convair/Canadair Tilt-Wing Close Support Aircraft by Scott Lowther
VTOL gunship

Spacejet by Scott Lowther
Spaceplanes with dropable jet engines

Handley Page All-Wing Airbus by Scott Lowther
A British flying-wing transport from the 1960’s

Convair NX-2 Nuclear Powered Bomber by Scott Lowther
A well known but – until now – poorly documented nuclear powered aircraft project

Technology Needs for High Speed Rotorcraft Part 1 Sikorsky and Bell by Scott Lowther
Tiltrotos, tiltwings, fan-in-body designs

Lockheed-Martin ICE by Scott Lowther
An experimental tailless stealth fighter design

Raumwaffe, 1946

Boeing WS-110A

X-Wings

Dash-On-Warning

 Posted by at 3:23 pm

Personal VTOL

 transports, VTOL  No Responses »
Nov 202013
 

A recent series of patents has received some press, where some people suspect that this VTOL aircraft concept is a “flying car” from Google. The company is “Zee.Aero,” the inventor is Ilan Kroo, aeronautics professor on leave from Stanford.

The design features a multitude of small vertical lift fans and two forward thrust props. The vertical lift fans are each provided with an electric motor. The power would seem to be provided by a gas motor/electric hybrid system.

The system would seem to be fairly draggy, so it’s probably not intended for high speed. One of the patent illustrations shows one parked with folded wings in a conventional parking lot between two automobiles, indicating that there is some thinking that the inventors want this to be used as a “flying car,” It really doesn’t look roadable, so you’d have to land it at the destination. I shudder to imagine what would happen to one of these if left in a packed Wal Mart or Best Buy lot on Black Friday…

US20130214086A1-20130822-D00004 US20130214086A1-20130822-D00001 US20130214086A1-20130822-D00003 US20130214086A1-20130822-D00000

 Posted by at 10:34 pm

Tri-Service VTOL Art

 transports, VTOL  No Responses »
Nov 182013
 

A black-and-white copy of a Bell Aerospace design for the Tri-Service (USAF, Army, Navy) VTOL competition circa 1962. Very nearly the Bell X-22… just a bit more refinement needed. Similar early X-22 artwork HERE and HERE.

 

 Posted by at 2:34 pm

WWII Russian Roadable Autogyro

 Recon, VTOL  No Responses »
Oct 192013
 

An interesting design for a roadable aircraft:

autogyrol

See more & bigger drawings of this vehicle HERE.

For operations on the ground, it appears that the nose wheel (or nose treads, for off-road use) would be powered, while the prop would continue to provide thrust. Given Russian experience with aerosani, this is hardly surprising.

The idea of a roadable autogyro is neither new nor particularly silly. One such vehicle, the Pitcairn AC-35, was tooling around the streets of Washington, D.C. in the 1930’s:

[youtube nW9tBgmIFEU]

And, perhaps vastly more interestingly, a new roadable autogyro, the PAL-V, may soon be tooling around the streets of the less-overly-regulated parts of the world soon.

[youtube eyz8GwHFaqk]

 

 Posted by at 6:08 pm

Aerospace Projects Review issue V3N3 now available

 bomber, Dyna Soar, fighter, hypersonic, jetliner, launch vehicles, rockets, spacecraft, spaceplane, stealth, transports, VTOL  4 Responses »
Jul 022013
 

At last: issue V3N3 of APR is now available. The first article covers the proposed use of bombers, specifically the B-52 and B-70, as launch platforms for the Dyna Soar manned military spaceplane.

v3n3dynabomberad2

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The second article is on the Martin Astrorocket, a series of early-sixties design studies of reusable low-cost manned launch systems for the USAF.

v3n3astrorocketad

The next article covers the development of the Douglas XC-132 turboprop transport/tanker plane throughout much of the 1950’s. This would have been by far the biggest turboprop plane the us would have built… had it been built. Article contains a number of good photos of the full-scale mockup.

v3n3c-132ad3

v3n3c-132ad2

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Next is an article on the A-12 Avenger II stealthy strike plane for the US Navy. This article includes info and drawings on the Northrop competitor, as well as a number of rarely seen and all-new detailed diagrams of the A-12.

v3n3a-12ad2

v3n3a-12ad1

A brief article on a trio of Grumman designs from the 1989-1993 time period, VTOL lift-fan combat aircraft, including the Future Attack Air Vehicle (FAAV).

v3n3grumad

Last but not least, an article describing a trio of seemingly unrelated – yet possibly related – designs: a “landing boat” for Project Orion, a lifting body design for the Apollo program, and a fighter jet designed to be launched via booster rockets. Included is information on the logistics Landing Vehicle, General Dynamics’ equivalent of the Douglas ICARUS/Ithacus troop transport rocket.

v3n4llvad

And two “Aerospace History Nuggets,” a Ryan concept for a VTOL jetliner and a concept from Bell for linking two helicopters together to forma single heavy lifter.

v3n3nuggetad

Here’s the complete issue V3N3 layout:

v3n3promo

It is available in three formats. Firstly, it can be downloaded directly from me for the low, low price of $8.50. Second, it can be purchased as a professionally printed volume through Magcloud; third, it can be procured in both formats. To get the download, simply pay for it here through paypal.

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To get the printed version (or print + PDF version), visit my MagCloud page:

http://scottlowther.magcloud.com/

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Also available: the V3N3 Addendum. This contains 30 pages formatted for 11X17. Includes larger and improved versions of all the CAD diagrams produced for V3N3, including:

  • 1/72 versions of the A-12 diagrams
  • Scans of the original A-12 diagrams
  • 1/144 versions of the XC-132 diagrams
  • 1/288 versions of the XC-132 antecedents
  • 1/250 versions of the Dyna Soar/bomber launchers
  • 1/72 versions of the Landing Boat, “Space fighter” and Apollo lifting body
  • 1/200 version of the Nova/LLV

v3n3addpromo

The V3N3 Addendum can be downloaded for only $3.00!
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 Posted by at 9:59 pm

Bell D2022

 transports, VTOL  No Responses »
Apr 292013
 

A 1959 Bell Aerospace design for a Tri Service (Army, Marines, USAF) VTOL troop transport using vectorable ducted fans. This obviously led to the X-22 design. The fuselage was much like that of transport helicopters like the Chinook, boxy and unaerodynamic, but the propulsion system would provide considerably higher forward velocity.

A chart of Bell VTOL designs is HERE.

 Posted by at 9:33 pm

Bell BAT

 VTOL  No Responses »
Apr 062013
 

A photo of the Bell Helicopter BAT (Bell Advanced Tiltrotor) mockup built in the late 1980s. This was an early competitor in the Light Helicopter eXperimental (LHX) program, eventually won by what would become the RAH-66 Comanche. While the BAT met the early requirements of the program, it was too unconventional.

 Posted by at 11:55 pm
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