A 1955 NACA concept model of a supersonic interceptor fueled with liquid hydrogen. Similar in design to the JP-5 fueled design, but with a ceiling of 80,000 feet and engines of shorter length due to the faster combustion of hydrogen.
Jun 252012
Jun 242012
A 1955 NACA concept model of a supersonic interceptor powered by JP-5 burning turbojets. With a gross weight of 25,000 pounds, it would be capable of combat at Mach 2.5 to 3.0 with a ceiling of just over 60,000 feet.
Jun 222012
A similar design to the high altitude interceptor shown two days back, but optimized for a lower altitude. Generally similar layout, but smaller engines.
Jun 202012
A poorly reproduced copy of a photo of a NACA-Lewis concept model of a high-altitude supersonic interceptor, circa 1955. Little data is available, apart from the engines having 55% of the weight of the craft, with the rest composed of structure and payload… almost no fuel. Makes an interesting comparison to the Lockheed “Suntan.”
Jun 192012
A simple Nasa-Lewis concept from 1971 for a nuclear-powered subsonic transport aircraft, clearly based on the Lockheed C-5. No other data available.
Jun 182012
From a 1946 NACA wind tunnel test report, a diagram of the 1/4 scale model of the Bell XS-1 (Army Project MX-653, later known as just the X-1).
Jun 172012
The McDonnell Douglas Model 176 was a generic spaceplane design derived from the FDL-7 (Flight Dynamics Lab – USAF Wright-Pat). It was incorporated into small spaceplanes adequate for taking a few crewmembers to a space station on up to Space Shuttle competitors. Below are two pieces of art (found in the NASA HQ historical archive) showing a late 1960’s concept for a Model 176 optimized for the ILRV (Integral Launch and Recovery Vehicle) role. ILRV was one of the immediate predecessors to the Space Shuttle program.
The Model 176 was a sleek dart-like design with stubby fins. While details varied from iteration to iteration, all (or nearly all) featured high aspect ratio variable geometry wings for landing.
Jun 162012
After WWII, the US Navy contracted Bell Aircraft to modify two of their P-63 Kingcobras to have highly swept wings, to test low-speed flight characteristics of the Wings Of Tomorrow. Below is a three-view of the resultant L-39 test aircraft taken from a 1948 NACA-Langley wind tunnel test report.
Jun 142012
Taken from a January 1947 NACA-Langley wind tunnel test report are some images describing the Naval Aircraft Factory “Float wing convoy interceptor.” This was an unconventional single-engine, single-seat fighter plane designed to be catapulted off of a ship (a cargo ship, presumably), land in the water and then be picked up by crane and returned to service. There was no landing gear. The unusual fuselage had substantially more drag than a conventional one, due to the cutout needed for the mid-ship mounted propeller. The model was 1/4 scale. Full-scale information includes:
Engine: one Ranger XV-770-9, max 625 hp
Normal gross weight: 4000 lbs
Fighter overload gross weight: 4319 lbs
Wingspan: 29.83 ft
Wing area: 160 sq. ft
It seemed to be a poor performer. Not only lots of drag, but the rudder had a tendency to shake badly. This was clearly a WWII-era design; by 1947, not only was its design obsolete, so was its role.
Jun 122012
Found in the NASA HQ Historical archives was an artists impression of a supersonic manned ramjet powered aircraft, dating to either the late war years or early postwar period. It’s a fairly sizable craft with very small wings of unusual planform, razor edges and angular cross-section. The fuselage is almost entirely engine; the cockpit is squeezed into a structure used to hold the internal “spike” diffuser.
On the whole the design looks like it’d fly extremely fast, after having been launched to altitude by a rocket booster (or carried by a large aircraft), but I certainly wouldn’t want to try to land it.
