Jul 032023
 

Ryan released this piece of art in 1958 depicting a tailsitter fighter somewhat like their X-13. However, this was clearly a much larger vehicle, operational rather than experimental. More than anything it resembles a slimmed-down and stretched-out Avro Arrow. It’s unclear that this was based on an actual engineering study, rather than artistic license.

This would seem to be an interceptor, presumably installed somewhere in Europe within hidden underground bunkers. It’s not at all certain to me that in the event of all out war there’d be any real point in having these aircraft be able to land vertically as their bunkers would probably be radioactive glass by they time they got home… and without the dedicated equipment needed to catch the aircraft, they’d be unable to land.

 

 

 Posted by at 10:10 pm
Jun 302023
 

A NASA article on the status of the X-57 “Maxwell” says that they’re wrapping up work on it, with no mention of it actually flying:

X-57 Project Creates Paths Toward Electric Aviation

The X-57 is a modification of an existing conventional aircraft to be all-electric. Lots of new technologies were integrated and apparently some useful advances were made, but the real issue remains batteries. Until the energy density of batteries gets a *lot* better, electric-powered aircraft are going to remain pretty niche. Flying the X-57 would be nice, but with the existing batteries it’s kind of dead in the water.

What would be great is if NASA kept working on the X-57 at a low level. The technologies onboard would be occasionally upgraded, and when meaningfully better batteries – or perhaps some sort of modular fuel cell system, perhaps, or indeed a small nuclear reactor (a man can dream) – become available, integrate them into the vehicle and at last fly it.

 Posted by at 10:49 am
Jun 282023
 

This popped up on ebay a few years ago. It purported to be a Boeing design for an advanced subsonic stealth bomber… but the design is, clearly, rather silly. Supposedly it dates from 1984 and was produced at, by and for Boeing, intended to be a decoy for the B-2 Advanced Technology (Stealth) Bomber competitors. I’m not sure Lockheed or Northrop would have looked at this and seen a serious design, however.

*Some* aspects of it seem like they might have been taken from an actual stealthy bomber design… the inlets and exhaust, indeed much of the middle part of the wing/body, look about right. But the stubby wing and especially the straight-vertical fins in substantial numbers are goofy aerodynamics and spectacular corner reflectors.

At least two of these were made and wandered out into the wild over the years.

 Posted by at 12:31 pm
Jun 222023
 

A “hovertank” is, of course, a terrible idea. A hovering vehicle pretty much by definition has no traction with the ground, thus cannot well handle a lot of recoil… which is the sort of thing a cannon provides in spades. And anything that hovers has to be built light enough to get lurched off the ground, which reduces the capability to be armored. And… on and on.

Nevertheless, the “hovertank” has it’s place in science fiction.

And now modern consumer electronics and drone technology has reached the point where a hovertank can in fact be yours. In subscale plastic model form at any rate.

I’m honestly surprised and impressed that that bitty quadcopter could lift that, and do so effectively. Now imagine that the kit was designed for that from the get-go, using vac-formed parts… or even carbon fiber laid-up components. Far lighter, and better integrated with the lift system.

 

 Posted by at 12:58 pm
Jun 062023
 

I put one copy of each of my current books on ebay. They’re all in brand-new condition, and will be signed/dated when sold. They also come with bonus 18X24-inch prints… the “SR-71” book has two prints of the SR-71, the “B-47/B-52” book has one B-47 diagram and two B-52 diagrams; “US Supersonic Bomber Projects Vol. 1” has two B-70 Valkyrie diagrams. Take a look…

 

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird (Origins and Evolution): Signed, with bonus prints

Boeing B-47 Stratojet and B-52 Stratofortress: Signed, with bonus prints

US Supersonic Bomber Projects Volume 1:  Signed, with bonus prints

 

 Posted by at 11:36 pm
Jun 032023
 

An incident from December 2022:

And another MiG 31 comes in for a landing, spewing fuel at a prodigious rate…

 

 

There seems to be something wrong with the Russian Air Force lately, lots of planes seem to be having trouble. I’m sure we can all agree that the best thing would be for the Russian Air Force to ground their aircraft for a bit. Probably put them all on trucks and trains and send them to, say, Germany and Poland and Finland for inspection and disposition.

 Posted by at 11:59 pm
May 252023
 

Given the vast amount of money spend on Virgin Orbit to develop a rocket that promised to be cheap, the fact that the company failed is no surprise whatsoever (see HERE). But their failure is other companies gains.

No one should be surprised Virgin Orbit failed—it had a terrible business plan

Stratolaunch bought VO’s modified 747 with the intention of using it to launch things. This probably makes a lot more sense than their gigantic ROC carrier aircraft… too much airplane for many missions, and not exactly capable of landing on every runway in the world. Big as the 747 is, there are a *lot* of airports with decades of experience accommodating it.

 

Stratolaunch Expands Fleet with Virgin Orbit’s Modified Boeing 747

And the New Zealand/American company Rocket Lab has purchased a fair chunk of VO’s infrastructure:

 

Rocket Lab Bolsters Neutron Rocket Program with Purchase of Virgin Orbit Long Beach California Assets

Good for them. Instant growth, and, hopefully, continued employment for some VO staff. And if nothing else at least the ChiComs didn’t get it.

 Posted by at 9:06 pm
May 222023
 

With the release of my latest book, I went to Amazon to see if my previous works are currently available (SR-71: yes; B-47/B-52: yes; Vol 1: currently no). In the process, I was surprised to see that there is a *hardback* version of my SR-71 book available. This is surprising for several reasons…

1: No mention of it was made to me by the publisher

2: It’s a relatively slim volume for a hardback

3: There has been some discussion, so far quite preliminary, of an expanded version of the SR-71 book at some point in the future, which would be more appropriate as a hardback.

Anyway, the listing looks like this:

 

“Huh,” sez I, so I click on the “hardback” link to see what it looks like. And… it looks like this:

 

 

Wait, what?

 

Now, that’s a perfectly fine book. I have a copy myself. But it’s not *my* book.

 

I also noticed that there are 187 reviews, which is substantially more than I recall there being. And that’s because the reviews for Goodall’s book are mashed in with reviews for mine.

Somebody hit the wrong button somewhere.

So if you want to get a copy or three of my book – an urge I wholeheartedly support – just make sure you order the right book. I’ve contacted the publisher about this and they’re baffled; they’ve contacted the people they need to to try to get this weirdness resolved.

 

 

Oh, and there’s this, for whatever it’s worth:

 

Woo, and, indeed, hoo.

 Posted by at 3:25 pm