VTOL art

 bomber, fighter, VTOL  No Responses »
Jan 122014
 

Another from the stash of largely-Grumman concept art, a lift-fan equipped VTOL aircraft, probably a ground support plane. The terrain is clearly Viet Nam inspired, so I’d put this in the second half of the 1960’s.

2013-12-22 grumman art 4-b

 

Note the complete lack of markings. This may indicate that the painting was photographed while still in a “neutral” stage, where markings could be applied aimed at specific customers. The Marines would seem an obvious choice, but in the mid 1960’s it was still a believable possibility that the Army could be equipped with aircraft such as this.

 Posted by at 9:47 am

More F-111B art

 fighter  No Responses »
Jan 072014
 

Another (probably Grumman) painting depicting the abortive F-111B in service. The paint scheme shown here is different from what’s usually depicted, with an overall dark gray upper and lighter gray lower.

2013-12-22 grumman art 3-a

 Posted by at 1:55 am

F-111B

 bomber, fighter  No Responses »
Jan 052014
 

A piece of artwork – from a collection of Grumman art – depicting the failed US Navy F-111B. The F-111B was primarily a General Dynamics design, but Grumman was an important contractor, so this may be Grumman art.

2013-12-22 grumman art 3-c

 Posted by at 12:17 pm

McDonnell-Douglas ATB artwork in Hi-Rez

 bomber, hi-rez, US Bomber Projects  No Responses »
Dec 302013
 

McDonnell-Douglas concept art of their briefly studied Advanced Technology Bomber design.

Everything I have on this, including some very reliable diagrams, is in US Bomber Projects #05. If you’d like to download the full-rez version of this (3000 pixels wide), it is available HERE. To access it, you’ll need the username and password given in the “USBP05 extra content” section  on the first page of USBP #05.

 Posted by at 11:56 pm

US Bomber Projects #05 Available

 bomber, rockets, spaceplane, US Bomber Projects  No Responses »
Dec 272013
 

Issue number 5 of US Bomber Projects is now available (for background, see HERE). This issue includes:

  • McDonnell-Douglas ATB: The little know third competitor for the B-2
  • McDonnell-Douglas/Boeing DF-9: A Mach 10 global-range strike/space launch system from the 1990’s
  • Boeing Model 701-273-5: A supersonic bomber with an extreme inverse-taper wing
  • Fairchild N-9: An early 1950’s nuclear powered concept
  • Martin Model 223-5: A predecessor to the B-48 with canards
  • Rockwell D645-5: A subsonic 1978 flying wing bomber designed to use a laser for defense against fighters and missiles
  • North American 464L: NAA’s X-15 derived orbital spaceplane concept for the Dyna Soar program
  • Boeing Model 464-17: 1946 four-turboprop strategic bomber, a step toward the B-52

USBP#05 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:

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 Posted by at 4:59 pm

Five New Air & Space Documents

 bomber, launch vehicles, nukes, rockets, space shuttle, spacecraft, spaceplane  No Responses »
Dec 272013
 

Be sure to check out the Complete Catalog for all the drawings and documents.

 

Saturn I Summary

A 44 page NASA brochure (from somewhen around 1965) describing all the Saturn I vehicles that were launched. Includes diagrams showing the different configurations and provides mission data and highlights.

sdoc65
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The Retro-Glide Booster Concept

A 20-page collection of information on the Martin-Marietta “Retro-Glide Booster,” an early Shuttle idea for using a winged and recoverable derivative of the Saturn V first stage. A 1971 NASA Space Shuttle History Project document.

sdoc66
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NB-36H Aircraft Descriptive Data

30 pages of Lockheed data on the Convair NB-36H (the B-36 equipped with a nuclear reactor for test purposes). This comes from the Lockheed “Competitive Data Group,” which was Lockheed’s collection of intelligence data on *other* companies designs and proposals. This report, largely hand-written, provides a program history as well as weight and dimensional data, with a number of sketches showing the general arrangement and internal layout.

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adoc25
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Handbook on Guided Missiles

212 pages of a 1946 War Department report on German and Japanese rocket powered missiles and aircraft. This rarely-seen classic (scanned from a photocopy) provides a vast pile of information, including a great many diagrams.

adoc26
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Saturn Foldout

A NASA-Marshall publicity brochure on the Saturn V, dating to the mid-late 1960’s. Prints out full-size to 34 1/4 inches by 9 1/2 inches

sdoc67

 Posted by at 4:59 pm

F-14 for USAF

 fighter  No Responses »
Dec 242013
 

A piece of artwork, presumably from Grumman (it came from a photo album full of Grumman artwork), depicting an F-14 in USAF colors. Shown flying over ballistic missile warning radar facilities Way Up North. It appears to be a pretty stock F-14… seems equipped with an M-61 and an AIM-54.

2013-12-22 grumman art 2-a

 Posted by at 1:16 am

Ba 349 & X-4

 rockets  No Responses »
Dec 232013
 

Post-war US Army film showing US soldiers poking around with some captured German rocket vehicles: the Bachem Ba-349 (basically a manned surface-to-air missile) and the Ruhrstahl X-4, an air-to-air missile. The X-4 would have been difficult to use… wire guided like the modern TOW missile, the lone fighter pilot launching the missile would have to fly his plane while simultaneously  steering the missile, using a Mark I Eyeball to track a visible flare.

[youtube t-P8NjcMemY]

 

 Posted by at 1:31 am
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