Nov 062010
The second of two illustrations of a B-58 as a carrier for some form of large rocket, from the SDAM via Mark Nankivil. While this sketch shows more clearly that the intention was to launch the rocket in a direction safely describable as “up,” this illustration also displays a number of… anomalies. If the artist (“Burgess”) was a pro, this was clearly carried out on an off day. Most obviously, the left wing is *nowhere* near as big as the right wing (interestingly, matching the American populace as a whole).
11 Responses to “B-58 Launcher, Part D’oh”
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Well, at least they have the outboard engines the right size and in the right place in that drawing.
You know what that looks like to me?
That looks like an early version of the “Skybolt” bomber-launched ballistic missile concept.
The rocket to me looks like it is veering off to the right of the aircraft as well.
What the hell is going on with those wings, anyway?
The artist should have been able to take one look at the drawing and realize their was something very wrong with it…unless he worked for Blohm und Voss during WWII and the wings are different sizes to eliminate torque effects as all four turbojet engines are rotating internally in the same direction.
Continuing that, what the hell is the big pointy thing with the ridge around it just over the base of the fuselage tail?
At first glance, it seems the artist had a photo for reference but with the canopy on top but needed to show the bottom side. To me that would explain the size of the wings as he tried to switch the view and failed.
The fuselage shape resembles the early design versions of the aircraft back when it was going to be a single-seater parasite bomber.
I’m still trying to figure out what the big aft pod at the base of the tail is all about; it looks like some sort of giant rear-facing radome, and is the oddest thing in a already odd drawing.
The climb angle the B-58 is shown at in the drawing is interesting; if the missile is supposed to be a vertical-ascent ASAT, one would expect the bomber to be in a vertical zoom climb at launch; if some sort of a stand-off weapon, you would expect it to be shown launched from a horizontal attitude.
It’s probably some sort of “Skybolt” type ballistic missile or a satellite launch system; given the use of the term “launcher” on the drawing title, I suspect this is something to fire a payload into orbit for some reason. A quick-response orbital ASAT system of some sort? The thing coming off the belly looks like it has two stages, so it should have the ability to put something pretty small into orbit.
Have you guyes thought that maybe the fusalage was off set with the missle under the wing on the starboard side. It would make a whole lot more sense that the artist messed up.
Gerry, wings offset to balance an off center missile would be wildly unbalanced once the missile was released.
I’d say whoever did the drawing messed it up…period.
Yeah, considering the B-58 in one proposed version was going to carry a modified Minuteman missile under it for satellite launch rather than the fuel/bomb pods, the what’s-it in the drawing should have been able to fit pretty easily also:
http://www.up-ship.com/blog/apr/extras/townhall.htm
Maybe it’s a early version of that concept.
It’s hard to believe though that the artist didn’t realize that the wings looked so screwed up… about the big aft pod at the vertical fin base – housing for a rocket engine to boost launch speed and altitude?