Boeing Model 167

 transports, VTOL  No Responses »
Jun 062020
 

Another Chinook derivative, the Model 167 was substantially further from the original. It was larger and had an additional turboshaft engines… and moved all three of them forward, *presumably* for balance reasons. This was from the era when it seemed like a good idea to operate commercial helicopter “buses” from rooftop heliports in major cities, generally to shuttle passengers either from one city to another nearby one, or from the heart of an urban area to an outlying airport. It’s a little difficult to be sure, but it looks like the Model 167 had retractable landing gear.

 

 Posted by at 11:02 am

Boeing Model 157B

 transports, VTOL  No Responses »
Jun 042020
 

A 1966 Boeing concept for a civilian version of the Chinook. Viet Nam veterans I’ve known who rode in Chinooks of that era have stories that make me suspect that *substantial* structural stiffening would have been required for such a craft to be fully accepted by the public; apparently, looking forward towards the cockpit and watching the while cabin twist back and forth was slightly disconcerting. A cruise speed of 200 mph seems slightly optimistic.

 Posted by at 7:12 pm

That there is a big ol’ airplane

 transports  No Responses »
May 272020
 

Found on the Flickr account of the San Diego Air & Space Museum is this bit of concept art:

The description: “Flaunt Fleet Air Ultra Naval transport sitting 25 above waves on rsbs retractable spar buoy stabilizer concept and design by Thomas P. Faulconer artist Joe Ferrara date 1985 includes plaque and article by designer on back”

This came from an article published in the April 1985 issue of the US Naval Institute Proceedings by Thomas Faulconer, an article I don;t have. So… there ya go.

If you’ve got It, FLAUNT (fleet air ultra 
naval transport) It. Thomas P.Faulconer. tab 
lllus US Nav Inst Proc 111:135-139 Apr »85

 

 Posted by at 5:32 pm

A Flying Delorean

 future projects, VTOL  No Responses »
May 242020
 

There have been a lot of “personal air vehicles” designed over the last decade, most designed for VTOL operations and many with purely electric  propulsion systems. One such design – which I can’t vouch for on either technical or financial fronts – is the Delorean DR-7 from Delorean Aerospace, founded by the nephew of *that* Delorean.

Their website, lean on details:

http://www.deloreanaerospace.com/

An article from 2017:

A Flying Car From DeLorean Really Won’t Need Roads

And a patent (US9862486B2):

Vertical takeoff and landing aircraft

 Posted by at 9:07 pm

APR April 2020 Rewards

 bomber, Dyna Soar, fighter, hi-rez, hypersonic, launch vehicles, Monthly Historical Documents Program, Patreon, rockets, spacecraft, spaceplane  2 Responses »
Apr 302020
 

I’m terrible at posting updates on the latest rewards, but I do get every rewards package out on time. That said, APR Patrons and Monthly Historical Documents Program subscribers have just been sent the rewards for April, 202. This package includes:

1) “Flying Carpet Feasibility Study Submarine Carrier,” a full scan of the 1958 Boeing report on a series of submarines design to carrying Mach3+ VTOL strike fighters

2) “F10F Descriptive Data,” a full scan of a 1953 Lockheed document describing this competitors design

3) Diagram 35-17610, B-52 airdrop carrier aircraft for the Model 844-2050 X-20 Dyna Soar

4) A CAD diagram of a two-stage Rockwell Trans Atmospheric Vehicle using a ground effect machine first stage

 

If this sort of thing is of interest and you’d like to get in on it and make sure you don’t miss any of the forthcoming releases, sign up either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.

 

 



All prior “back issues” are available for purchase by subscribers.

 Posted by at 2:50 pm

North American Rocket Transport

 hypersonic, jetliner, launch vehicles, rockets, space shuttle, space station, spacecraft, spaceplane, transports  No Responses »
Apr 242020
 

In 1965 North American Aviation produced a study for NASA about reusable space launch vehicles to support forthcoming expected space stations. Included within that study was an alternate use of rocket vehicles… point-to-point hypersonic commercial passenger transportation. This concept goes back to the late 1940’s and has continued to the present day, with the Elon Musk suggesting that the SpaceX Starship could be used for that purpose. The idea is interesting and it certainly *could* work. But could it be commercially cost effective? History with craft such as the Concorde and the Shuttle argue strongly against an early vehicle like this doing anything but losing truckloads of cash every time it launches.

 Posted by at 11:33 pm

Lockheed BALLOS

 rockets, space station, spacecraft, transports  No Responses »
Apr 232020
 

Artwork circa 1964 depicting the Lockheed BALlistic LOgistics Spacecraft (BALLOS), a sort of super-sized Apollo capsule meant for the transportation of a dozen astronauts (10 passengers, 2 crew) at once to and from any one of the doubtless dozens of space stations that the United States would surely have in orbit by the mid 1970’s. Launch vehicle would be a Saturn Ib.

 Posted by at 12:48 am
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