One of the reasons why issue V2N2 of APR is late in getting out: illustrations for the Large Orions article are taking a while. This is nearing completion, but not quite there yet (obviously).
NOTE: Researching all this wacky stuff takes time and money. You can support the cause by Buying My Stuff, which includes aerospace drawings and documents, as well as the journal of unbuilt aircraft and spacecraft projects, Aerospace Projects Review.
Or just plain Give Me Money.
As I continued to work on issue V2N2 of APR tonight, I noticed as I pasted in a diagram of the 4,000 ton Orions pulse system loading mechanism that I’ve busted through 100 pages, with more to come. This will probably be the longest issue ever. Oy.
This issue *should* have been out the door some time ago, but due to a combination of factors, it’s not yet ready. To make up for the delay, this issue will be stuffed to the gills with all sorts of stuff.
Patience!
Buy all six together and get ’em notably cheaper than individually…
I am returning CD-ROMs to availability. The delay in doing so has largely been due to the annoyingly slow processes involved:
1) Re-writing the HTML code for the various web pages, for over a hundred items (this has included some price adjustments, up and down)
2) Continued uploading of previously unavailable-for-downloading documents.
The second part there has been a *real* headache; my internet service out here in the Utah sticks is slower’n dirt. Oddly, files that I could download back down from my own server in a few minutes are taking up to six hours to upload there in the first place… so you’ll see some of the larger new items will be broken up into smaller, easier-to-manage files.
I’d hoped to have the revised pages uploaded by this past weekend. Obviously, that didn’t happen. Still, it should happen Any Time Now. I just want to make sure that all the changes are correctly made, and all the documents that I want to make available for download on this go-round are actually properly uploaded.
In the next issue of APR (V2N2) there’ll be an article about a series of designs Republic Aviation created that, while being wildly different in size and role, nevertheless featured more or less he same basic shape… delta wing with small variable sweep panels for extra lift at low speed. Included are an AMPSS design (predecessor of the B-1 competition), an SST, their TFX competitor (F-111) and a VTOL supersonic strike fighter.
Ah, the early 1960’s. When the future looked bright, the atom was our friend, when planes were only getting faster, and when Marxist gun-grabbers were opposed, not elected President. In that climate, Convair studied several derivatives of their B-58 “Hustler” bomber to serve as supersonic transports, both for military and civilian roles. I’m currently working on an article for the next issue of APR dealing with these concepts. Also hoping to have some all-new color artwork prepared for this article.
In 1964, Lockheed responded to a US Navy RFP for a flying submersible anti-submarine-warfare craft. Two of the designs studied were the CL-865-1 and CL-865-2, bot of which were more “submersible aircraft” than “flying submarines.” Both featured long-span, straight, high aspect ratio wings, a two-man crew, a single T56 turboshaft engines and hydroski landing gear. The -1 connected the T56 to a single propellor mounted on a pylon well above the fuselage (in a layout reminiscent of a n umber of motorized sailplanes), while the -2 connect the turboshaft to two ducted fans. The -2 was the more aggressive of the two designs (though there were apparently other even more advanced concepts), using wings that would fold back to reduce underwater drag and a water augmented rocket for takeoff assist. Both designs would have met the design requirements of:
1) cruise altitude: 2500 feet
2) cruise speed: 225 knots
3) flight radius: 500 nautical miles
4) submarine endurance: 10 hours
5) Maximum depth: 75 feet
6) Payload: 1500 pounds
Well, there’s three months down the drain. At least I got some good aerospace data and a boatload of photos out of the deal, some of which are below. People keep telling me that I could have a career as a nature photographer… I think it’s just about time to find out.
I will get busy on cranking out APR CD’s for subscribers as soon as I can. But for now I need to hurl heavy objects and collapse for a while.
Sometimes you find just what you wanted just a little bit late. This happened with the most recent issue of Aerospace Projects Review; it had a big article on the Project Pluto nuclear ramjet cruise missile, with some discussion of early designs including a few lines on a reported North American study from 1947 describing nuclear rockets and ramjets. When the article was published, the North American study was unavailable, and was thought to be likely to be a vague mathematical treatise. However, not long after publishing I came across and photocopied/scanned a copy of that very report. Far from being vague, it was fairly massive and contains detailed engineering schematics of a Mach 3 nuclear ramjet cruise missile, its liquid rocket booster, and what is essentially an enlarged V-2 with a nuclear rocket, capable not only of serving as an ICBM, but also capable of sending a payload onto an interplanetary trajectory.
The next issue of APR will have an update article describing these.
