Patreon: December rewards

 aircraft, art, awesomeness, drawings, history, new products, news, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft, weapons  No Responses »
Dec 262014
 

There was a delay getting the December rewards out, and a further delay in putting this notification together that the rewards are available… so it might be only a short-ish time before these are gone, replaced by the *January* rewards. So if these look of interest… act fast!

PDF Document: “Design Study for an Air Force Model F-82E Airplane Modified to a Ground Attack Aircraft with Allison XT-38 Turbo Prop Engine,” a North American Aviation report from 1948. This was not for a simple engine swap-out… the cockpits were moved forward and the engines located behind them, driving the props with long shafts.

PDF Document: “SAM-D Air Defense Weapon System,” a 1973 US Army description document of what would become the Patriot missile system.

Large Format Diagram: a large-format full-color (w/bonus grayscale versions) diagram of the X-20 Dyna Soar. Very detailed and clear. Looks great on a wall (believe me on that!)

CAD Diagram: Boeing Model 853-21 “Quiet Bird” a 1961 design study for a low radar cross section (i.e. stealthy) research aircraft.

2014-12 patreon ad

If you would like to access these items and support the cause of acquiring and sharing these pieces of aerospace history, please visit my Patreon page and consider contributing.

patreon-200

 Posted by at 2:30 pm

LH2 C-141

 aircraft, drawings, projects  8 Responses »
Dec 192014
 

In the early/mid 1970s the US aerospace industry studied alternate fuels for aircraft. This included liquid hydrogen… a pain to work with, but it makes a great fuel and can be processed easily out of natural gas, less easily out of coal, and with a whole lot of electricity out of water. But it is extremely cold and extremely low density. Thus when Lockheed (apparently half-heartedly) looked at an LH2 version of the C-141, it looked like this:

lh2 c-141

Under normal conditions, wingtip fuel tanks that vast would snap the wings right off, but LH2 is so light and fluffy that this aircraft would weigh *less* than a fully fueled standard C-141.

 Posted by at 5:48 pm

USBP #12 and ANED #01 Now Available

 aircraft, American Nuclear Explosive Devices, books, drawings, history, new products, nukes, projects, rockets, spacecraft, US Bomber Projects, weapons  2 Responses »
Dec 172014
 

The latest releases in the “US Aerospace Projects” line (see the full library HERE):

US Bomber Projects #12 contents:

  • Boeing Model 464-41: A turboprop B-52 predecessor
  • Boeing “Big Bird”: a long-durational, low-speed, low-altitude missile carrying loiterer
  • Douglas MX-2091-E: A 1950’s canard configured missile carrier
  • Boeing Model 701-238: A supersonic design on the road to the B-59
  • Northrop Nuclear Flying Wing: Atomic power with two crew pods
  • Martin Model 223-12: the final design in the XB-48 design series
  • Rockwell MRCC: An airplane that could be tossed into space atop an RSRM
  • Lockheed CL-820-8: A Mach 3 variable-geometry design

USBP #12 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4:

——–

 

—-

usbp12promo

usbp12ad2

————–

New: American Nuclear Explosive Devices #01

This is a prototype issue for what may become a series but which I hope to turn into a Real Book. The plan is to eventually document via accurate and detailed diagrams every nuclear explosive device produced by the US (obviously some are a little lean on declassified data). This includes bombs, Re-Entry Vehicles, a few actual “physics packages” and some stand-alone test devices. ANED01 contains information and diagrams of the first three atom bombs worked on by the US: the Thin Man and Little Boy air-droppable bombs and the Trinity “Gadget” test device. The American Nuclear Explosive Devices webpage is HERE.

ANED01 is formatted for 11X17, so the diagrams are good and large.

ANED #01 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4:

——–

 

aned01promo

 Posted by at 1:04 pm

Very Early NASA computer animation

 art, history, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Dec 162014
 

A NASA propaganda film from the very early 1970’s looking ahead to 1985, using the very latest in computer animation technology to depict a space shuttle in orbit.

[youtube 98pthkn9A6M]

This film was excerpted and used in an interview of sorts with Maxime Faget circa December 1972, and was posted and discussed around four years ago HERE.

 Posted by at 1:08 am

Klagenfurt Klf 255

 aircraft, art, blather, Gah., history, Hmm..., Patreon, projects, rockets  11 Responses »
Dec 092014
 

Ever since I started working on Aerospace Projects Review in the late 1990’s, people have asked from time to time if I planned on putting out an April Fools edition,or covering fictional designs, something along those lines. And I have always shot that concept down, because one thing I don’t want to do is contribute to confusion of mythology. Because even the most transparent fakery can be believed by far too many people (witness the patently absurd modern fiction called “Die Glocke”).

One of the better known “fakes” that has sometimes been understood to be real is the “Klagenfurt Klf 255.” This was originally published in the French aviation magazine “Fana de l’Aviation” as an April Fools gag in 1973. Supposedly a wartime German design for a rocket powered interceptor, the diagrams are actually reasonably convincing, as are the pre-Photoshop fake photos… but it was nevertheless pure fiction.

klf 255

Some years back someone sent me a photocopy of the original article. I’ve scanned it in PDF format and posted it to the APR Patreon for all patrons (this means as cheap as $0.75/month). Enjoy. And remember… It’s A Faaaaaaaaaake.

fake

If you would like to access these items and support the cause of acquiring and sharing these pieces of aerospace history, please visit my Patreon page and consider contributing.

patreon-200

 Posted by at 12:10 am

Voyager

 history, models, projects, spacecraft  No Responses »
Nov 292014
 

Before “Voyager” meant “a flyby probe of the Outer Solar System,” it meant “an orbiter and lander for Mars.” It was, essentially, a bigger, more ambitious version of what became the Viking missions. big enough that the Saturn V was the launcher, sending two craft at a time.

A number of companies put in bids to design and build the spacecraft. Below are images of the TRW concept. The conical section is the capsule holding the lander; the propulsion section is derived from the Lunar Module descent stage.

trw voyger

 Posted by at 1:30 pm

Transonic Jetliner

 aircraft, art, Hmm..., projects  10 Responses »
Nov 252014
 

A painting that was up on eBay a while back purported to be a McDonnell-Douglas concept rendering for a transonic jetliner. This aircraft used advanced – and expensive – fuselage shaping to lower transonic drag, much like the NASA/Boeing/Bell design illustrated in US Transport Projects #01.

The image does give me pause. There’s something about the wings that just looks… off. I don’t think they match. And the port engine looks like it’s larger in diameter than the starboard engine.

ebay 2014-09-29 c

 Posted by at 10:30 am

Early ATF?

 aircraft, drawings, history, Hmm..., projects  7 Responses »
Nov 202014
 

A tiny, postage-stamp-sized illustration in a double-page advertisement for Lockheed in a July, 1988, issue of Aviation Week shows a CAD diagram of a jet fighter. This appears to be a twin-engined stealthy air superiority fighter. The illustration appears to be a photo taken of an old-school CRT monitor, and mirrored for some reason. Sadly, none of the text is useful or readable, and dimensions are undeterminable.

av week 1988-07-11 b

 Posted by at 11:16 pm

US Transport Projects #02, Spacecraft Projects #01 now available

 aircraft, art, drawings, history, new products, nukes, projects, spacecraft, US Spacecraft Projects, US Transport Projects  1 Response »
Nov 192014
 

The latest releases in the “US Projects” line (see the full library HERE):

USTP 02

Issue #02 of US Transport Projects, done in the same format as US Bomber Projects, USTP will cover flying vehicles designed to transport cargo, passengers and troops. Issue 02 includes:

  • Jupiter Troop Transport: A 1956 Army concept for ballistically launched soldiers
  • Catamaran 747: A NASA concept for a more efficient twin-fuselage 747
  • Nuclear C-5A: A NASA concept for using the existing C-5 to demonstrate nuclear powered flight
  • Boeing 765-076E: A recent design for a small supersonic transport
  • Lockheed L-151: An early jetliner concept adding six turbojets to a Constellation
  • AAFRL/Lockheed AMC-X: A recent design for a stealthy C-130 replacement
  • Boeing Twin Hull Airship: A 1970’s design for a semi-buoyant cargo lifter
  • Douglas D5.0-15A: A partially NASP-derived hypersonic jetliner

USTP #02 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4:

——–

ustp02ad2

ustp02ad
—————————-

USSP 01

Also available: issue #01 of US Spacecraft Projects. This series will present some of the wide range of manned and unmanned probes, stations, landers, spaceplanes and so on that have been designed over the decades. Issue #01 includes:

  • General Dynamics 2-Man Space Taxi: A concept for the minimum possible manned spacecraft
  • General Dynamics EMPIRE lander: one of the earliest designs for an excursion module to and from the surface of Mars
  • Convair Landing Boat: Krafft Ehricke’s Atlas-launched spaceplane
  • Zenith Star: the SDI laser battlestation experiment
  • Northrop PROFAC: a flying gas station for spacecraft
  • NASA Warp-drive spacecraft: a highly hypothetical concept for planning purposes
  • Martin Direct Flight Apollo: lunar landing without the LEM
  • Boeing DS-1 Satellite Interceptor: an early Dyna Soar with nuclear missiles

USSP #01 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4:

——–

ussp01ad2

ussp01ad

 Posted by at 6:20 pm
 Older Entries  Newer Entries