“Large Amphibian”

 aircraft, art, Monthly Historical Documents Program, Patreon, projects, science fiction  No Responses »
Jun 302021
 

A 1980’s Boeing concept art depicting a passenger transport of 100 or so years in the future. It has a number of… interesting features including a front that opens up like an Arakeen Sandworm. The cockpit and a fair amount of space behind it hinge upwards to provide access to the sizable interior of the aircraft. The gigantic transparent canopies are certainly a remarkable feature. Even the passenger windows on the side are vast compared to the tiny human figures. The engines look somewhat small for the design, but at least they exhaust almost directly onto the vast canopy over the tail “lounge” area. Surely that’ll not pose any problems…

The full rez scan of the artwork has been made available at 300 DPI to all $4/month patrons/subscribers in the 2021-06 APR Extras folder at Dropbox. If you would like to help fund the acquisition and preservation of such things, along with getting high quality scans for yourself, please consider signing on either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.



 Posted by at 12:15 am

“Mastering the Transatmosphere”

 aircraft, art, history, Monthly Historical Documents Program, Patreon, projects, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jun 192021
 

The June 1986 issue of “Air Force Magazine” had a cover article about the next big thing for the Air Force… aerospaceplanes capable of attaining orbit. Those who have been paying attention since 1986 might have noticed a dearth of aerospaceplanes, but at least the article has some spiffy cover art, along with interior art of what it claims is a 1965 McDonnell Douglas aerospaceplane. Two problems, though… McDonnell Douglass didn’t exist until 1967, and the art sure looks more like an SST to me. Shrug.

Anyway, I’ve uploaded a 300DPI scan of the article (and two ads… one depicting what appears to be a neutral particle beam space weapon, the other for a series of space-based nuclear powerplants) to the 2021-06 APR Extras folder on Dropbox, available to all APR patrons and subscribers.

 Posted by at 2:49 am

Short PD.16

 aircraft, drawings, history, Monthly Historical Documents Program, Patreon, projects  No Responses »
Jun 112021
 

The Short PD.16 was a circa 1957 design for a twin engined turboprop cargo/passenger plane. The configuration was similar to the Fairchild C-119, and would have been, by modern standards, an unusual passenger aircraft. Slow, voluminous, with (in one configuration) a cargo hold stuffed with cars and an upper deck filled with people in *luxurious* seating by modern standards, probably deafened and rattled. Half a dozen of one…

This was procured from eBay thanks to the contributions of Patrons and subscribers. The complete article has been sent to all patrons/subscribers at the more than $10/month level. If you would like to help fund the acquisition and preservation of such things, along with getting high quality scans for yourself, please consider signing on either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.



 Posted by at 3:36 am

Starship/Superheavy animation

 aircraft, art, awesomeness, Hmm..., projects, rockets, spacecraft, youtube  No Responses »
Jun 092021
 

An interesting piece of “fan animation” depicting a test flight of a Starship/Superheavy stack with subsequent water landings. I have high hopes that a flight will look this good… but realistically, we can expect a few flights with a bit more energetic ends. And that’s ok: failure is an option here. Failure can be a fantastic teacher. Certainly a far better teach than “not trying.”

Also of note: there are some bits of the animation here that are distinctly not “Hollywood A-Game.” But compare what just a few guys managed to do with, say, the first couple seasons of Babylon 5.  Technology progresses.

 Posted by at 12:54 am

Rocket Cargo

 aircraft, awesomeness, history, Hmm..., news, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jun 012021
 

Hmmmmm…..

Department of Defense Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Budget Estimates

Page 215

Title: Rocket Cargo

Description: The Department of the Air Force seeks to leverage the current multi-billion dollar commercial investment to developthe largest rockets ever, and with full reusability to develop and test the capability to leverage a commercial rocket to deliver AFcargo anywhere on the Earth in less than one hour, with a 100-ton capacity. The Air Force is not investing in the commercialrocket development, but rather investing in the Science & Technology needed to interface the capability with DoD logistics needs, and extend the commercial capability to DoD-unique missions. Provides a new, faster and cheaper solution to the existing TRANSCOM Strategic Airlift mission. Enables AFSOC to perform current Rapid-Response Missions at lower cost, and meet a one-hour response requirement. Rocket Cargo uses modeling, simulation, and analysis to conduct operational analysis, verify military utility, performance, and operational cost. S&T will include novel “loadmaster” designs to quickly load/unload a rocket,rapid launch capabilities from unusual sites, characterization of potential landing surfaces and approaches to rapidly improve those surfaces, adversary detectability, new novel trajectories, and an S&T investigation of the potential ability to air drop a payload after reentry. This is not a rocket engine or launch vehicle development program. It is an S&T effort to leverage the commercial development into a novel new DoD capability.FY 2021 Plans:Utilize modeling, simulation, and analysis to conduct operational analysis of Rocket Cargo concepts, trajectories, and design considerations and verify military utility, performance, and operational cost. Gather operational data from on-going commercial large-scale, instrumented, reusable launch events.FY 2022 Plans:Mature effort in leveraging commercial space launch to create military capability in Rocket-based Cargo delivery. Complete S&T testing leveraging the current commercial prototype testing. Perform site measurements needed to integrate the capability onto DoD missions including plume-surface physics and toxicity, loads, detectability, and acoustics. Also, complete initial AFRL wind tunnel testing to assess novel trajectories needed for air-drop capability, and high-speed separation physics. Under contract and CRADA, partner with Commercial to test and demonstrate an initial one-way transport capability to an austere site. Seek to perform an early end-to-end test to fully identify the technical challenges. In addition, complete Industry outreach for load master concepts including novel container designs, load/unload concepts, and testing the compatibility of AF cargo with rocket launch and space environments. Issue solicitation and award contracts.FY 2021 to FY 2022 Increase/Decrease Statement:FY 2022 increased compared to FY 2021 by $38.169 million. Funding increased due to planned program requirements and the development and maturation activities described above.

HMMMMM….

Sounds vaguely familiar. I wonder where I’ve seen ideas kinda like that before.

 Posted by at 8:30 pm

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird – Origins & Evolution: Preview

 aircraft, Book X, drawings, history, Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Origins and Evolution, new products, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
May 242021
 

Mortons has posted a preview “sampler” of my “Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird” bookazine. You can take a look and see if it’s for you.

It is available directly through the publisher for £8.99 (Approx $12.41 or €10.34). It is also available through Amazon for pre-order for $12.99. Direct from the publisher should be available sooner; from Amazon, lower mailing cost if you’re in the US.

 Posted by at 11:04 am

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird – Origins & Evolution

 aircraft, art, awesomeness, Book X, books, drawings, history, Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Origins and Evolution, new products, projects  No Responses »
May 202021
 

Mortons has announced my “bookazine” Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird – Origins & Evolution, now available for pre-order. This is my first published book. Woo! It covers the development of the SR-71 from well before the program started , including the “Suntan” concepts and several Convair high speed reconnaissance platforms, up through the development of the “Archangel” series that led to the CIA’s A-12, through the Mach 3 interceptor designs and the SR-71 itself. From there it also includes a number of proposed derivatives and unbuilt concepts… an A-12 used to launch satellites, the SR-71 as a carrier for a manned hypersonic scramjet vehicle, the use of the “SR-71C” as a flying wind tunnel, etc.

It is available directly through the publisher for £8.99 (Approx $12.41 or €10.34). It is also available through Amazon for pre-order for $12.99. Direct from the publisher should be available sooner; from Amazon, lower mailing cost if you’re in the US.

Here are some shots of a few pages to give you an idea of what’s in it. I created all the diagrams within, based on official sources and as accurate as I could make them. There are many, MANY diagrams here describing designs mundane and downright wacky, from tiny unmanned drones to truly gigantic hydrogen-fueled monsters.

 

Tell your friends!

 

 Posted by at 10:54 am
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