Sep 052022

Back in 2016 I released seven PDFs of CAD diagrams formatted for printing at 24X36 inches (those are shown after the break). This was another product line that didn’t exactly blow up the market, and no further diagrams were released. But now that I have two books of CAD diagrams released, and two more coming (and potentially more after that), I’m considering trying again. The Lockheed CL-400 Suntan, A-11, A-12, SR-71, YF-12, along with several B-47 and B-52 related designs are possible, as well as designs that aren’t from those books (X-20 Dyna Soar, several Orion vehicles, etc.). If this sounds interesting, let me know; if there is something specific you might be interested in, let me know.

Looking for: Weber F-106 Ejection Seat diagrams

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Aug 012022

This is not for me. Instead, I was contacted by Someone Some Of You Might Know (and whose work *all* of you should know), who is working on a project and needs a bit of help. Specifically, dimensioned, accurate, detailed diagrams of the Weber ejection seat used on the F-106:

Sadly, this is the best I seem to have on hand:

Anybody have anything they can share or point to?

APR Rewards: June 2022

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Jun 302022

I’ve just made the June 2022 rewards available for APR Patrons and Subscribers. This latest package includes:

Large format diagram: “X-15 Access Doors.” A North American Aviation diagram from 1956 showing all the openable panels on the port (left) side of the fuselage

Document: “Harpoon Coastal Defense System:” McDonnell Douglas brochure on a truck-launched anti-ship missile

Document: “Harpoon for Fast Patrol Boats:” McDonnell Douglas brochure on anti-ship missiles for small ships

Document: “Shorts Skyvan:” small brochure about the boxy cargo aircraft

Document: “VTOL Design – Turbojet Configurations” Northrop paper on VTOL fighters, mostly a historical review but with basic layouts for designs up to Mach 3

Document: Turbofan propaganda. A number of brochures and data sheets and such on turbofans and turbojets… PW4000, F100, JT9D-7R4, J57.

CAD diagram ($5 and up): IM-99B BOMARC surface to air missile general arrangement

If you would like to help fund the acquisition and preservation of such things, along with getting high quality scans for yourself, please consider signing on either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program. Back issues are available for purchase by patrons and subscribers.

Boeing Model 733-606 art

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Jun 232022

The Boeing 733 is *reasonably* well known as the designation for the Supersonic Transport before it got re-designated the 2707. However, Model 733 was sort of a catch-all designation for a long (numerically and temporally) series of designs covering the gamut from giant Mach 2+ SST’s down to bombers, strike aircraft and fighters. The link seems to be that the 733 started off specifically as an SST designation; but other aircraft types were designed using the same aerodynamics. A fighter that was basically a scaled-down SST might be a model 733 (such as the Model 733-605). Shown below is a reasonably commonly reproduced piece of art from the 80’s depicting what is sometimes called the Model 606; it’s actually the Model 733-606. I’ve seen diagrams for a number of aircraft based on this basic geometry; the 733-606-11 and 733-606-12 were strike aircraft. The aircraft below is generally described as an interceptor, sometimes as a supercruise research platform.

The full rez scan of this artwork has been uploaded to the 2022-06 APR Extras folder on Dropbox for APR Patrons and Subscribers.

Weapon System Designations: 1959

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Jun 212022

Have you ever wondered to yourself “what were the Air Force Weapon System Designations as of September, 1959?” Wonder no more:

The following page does not continue the Weapon System list, but goes on to list Air Force ace fighter pilots.

More Art

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May 022022

Like the recent purchase of Bell and Hughes art, I’ve just purchased from ebay two pieces of vintage McDonnell-Douglas concept art (the *actual* paintings, not reproductions) for the purpose of digitizing and preserving them. These are early 1970’s concepts for advanced fighters; the rear view is of the Model 265 AFTI submission circa 1973. The other is so far as I’m aware known solely from this painting and depicts a *tiny* fighter from 1970. I would be unsurprised if this turns out to be a concept for a fighter to be carried in some numbers by a 747 or C-5 carrier aircraft. A fighter that small shooting down a MiG 25 seems a bit optimistic.

These will be digitized and eventually donated to a good aerospace museum or archive (still inviting comments on what museum would be best… NASM, NMUSAF, Pima seem the most popular, with the Bell museum in Buffalo being an appropriate choice for the prior Bell artwork). And as with the earlier artworks, buying these was not cheap. Hell, ebay charged me more than sixty bucks just in *taxes.* Bah. So as before, if you’d like to help this project, $25 would go a long way. The “Add To Cart” button below would take care of that. If you were of a mind to, you could always hit the “quantity” button afterwards… hint, hint…

To help sweeten the deal, those who help out here will not only get the high-rez scans of the McDonnell-Douglas artwork but also professional photos I plan to obtain of the Lockheed stowed-rotor composite aircraft painting below, the very first “real” painting I purchased a few years ago. And if you’d like to help out with the previous Bell/Hughes paintings, check HERE.

Art!

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Apr 262022

The third of three pieces of vintage aerospace concept art – the actual paintings, not reproductions – that I recently procured from ebay has arrived. This is a 1960’s Hughes concept for a “Hot Cycle” Rotor Wing VTOL aircraft. The prior two – a 1970’s Bell AMST concept for a four-turbojet C-130 test aircraft and a 1980 Bell concept for a hovercraft to allow fighters to launch from bombed-out runways – were just able to be scanned on my flatbed scanner. But the Hughes painting was much larger, so I digitized it via photography, resulting in a 10,878X7500 pixel (about 36X25 at 300 dpi) image. Several iterations of the image – the stitched-together final image, and a version that was fade-corrected to make it look more like the actual painting – have been uploaded to a Dropbox folder with the Bell art.

These paintings are currently framed and will be hung on my wall… for a time. At some point my plan is to donate them to a good museum. The Smithsonian NASM is the obvious default, but I’m interested in alternatives. A museum that would *want* these and would protect yet display them would be ideal.

If you happen to see other aerospace concept art on ebay that’s not going for *insane* amounts and you’d like to see it preserved… let me know. I now have four pieces (not counting things like blueprints); not a great collection by any measure, but it’s something.

I am going to continue to work on digitizing this painting. I’ve been trying to find a local flatbed scanner big enough to scan the whole thing all at once; if I can get that done, the results will also be uploaded to the Dropbox folder.

If you’d like access to the folder – and thus the high-rez images, as well as some PDF documentation I’ll be adding – here’s an opportunity to do so. These paintings were not cheap to secure, so there’s a bit of a charge ($25):

Procuring these was not cheap, but now they are saved for posterity.

One art, please

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Apr 162022

D’oh. My “gotta save money” goal just took some substantial hits… I bought some vintage *original* art, the *actual* paintings, on ebay.

Send help.

First: A 1980’s idea for a small unmanned hovercraft to help an F-15 lift off from a damaged runway:

Second: a 1970’s Bell concept for a C-130 with four turbojet engines as a demonstrator for the AMST program:

My credit card just went “WTF are you *doing?*”

Feel free to hit that “tip jar” or subscribe in order to do you part in enabling this sort of financially dubious aerospace history collection and preservation. What I think would be best is to scan the bejeebers out of these then donate them to a good archive or museum.

There’s another much more interesting piece I’m hoping to hear something good on regarding an offer I made.

This seems a bit much

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Mar 272022

I have long bemoaned the fact that interesting aerospace history stuff sometimes sells on eBay at painfully high prices and sometimes even to people who aren’t me (the outrage of it all). Such is the case with this listing:

Vintage NASA Concept Art Frank DiPietro Martin Marietta SV-5D PRIME Lifting Body

Two nice vintage lithographs… one of the Martin SV-5D (AKA, X-23) subscale lifting body, and one of the NASA-Langley HL-10 (an early concept with a raised cockpit, possibly also a Martin interpretation). The initial bid price for these was $100; after a number of recent eBay expenditures, that was more than I was willing to go for. So it’s just as well that the final selling price was $384, which seems really, really high. Perhaps the bidders thought that these were the original paintings? Or perhaps the market for lithographs has skyrocketed.

Well, I guess it’s time that I unload some stuff. Not that I necessarily want to, but the bills lately…. uuuuugh. I recently saw a modestly cruddy Convair F-106 joystick go for well over $700. Well, guess what I have: a *really* *nice* F-106 joystick. Anybody want to bribe me before I put it on eBay? If so, send me an email with your insanely generous offer…