North American Model 704

 aircraft, drawings, history, Monthly Historical Documents Program, Patreon, projects, rockets  No Responses »
Jul 232022
 

Shortly after WWII the US Air Force funded studies on long range missiles, wit the intent of incorporating what had been learned from the Germans. One design, the 1947-vintage North American Aviation model 704, was derived (through numerous steps) from the German A-4 (V-2), but made longer range by way of adding wings and two ramjet engines. This would eventually evolve into the “Navaho” intercontinental cruise missile; an impressive but ultimately doomed system that used a large liquid rocket booster to shove a large Mach 3+ ramjet aircraft into the sky. In the end, ICBM were easier and cheaper.

The full rez scan of the diagram has been made available to APR Patrons/Subscribers at above the $10 level.

 

 Posted by at 12:40 am

Own some of Buzz’s stuff

 awesomeness, history, news, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jul 212022
 

This should prove interesting:

Buzz Aldrin is auctioning off the NASA jacket he wore to the moon, other items from time in space

The jacket is estimated at one to two million dollars. One could hope it’ll go to someplace like the NASM. One could backup-hope that if it looks like it’ll go to a foreign bajillionaire, someone like Musk or Bezos will step up to make sure it stays in the US.

The link to the auction:

Buzz Aldrin: American Icon

There are 69 items, a number of which are items that flew with him to the lunar surface on Apollo 11. It would be *fantastic* if they all ended up in the same collection… preferably NASM.

 

 Posted by at 8:04 pm

Large Satellite

 art, history, Hmm..., projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jul 112022
 

A piece of artwork attributed to the DoD (1984 or before) depicting a large structure being built in space. Since it’s DoD, it is most likely a surveillance or mapping radar system of some kind, or an electronic listening system. Since it doesn’t seem to have either large PV arrays or a nuclear reactor – at least not yet at this stage in construction – I’d lean towards it being a listening system. Of course, a great deal more stuff may have been added to it after this… assuming it’s an actual design and not pure art.

 Posted by at 9:51 pm

McDonnell Model 176 Lifting Body Crowdfund Success

 aircraft, art, awesomeness, drawings, history, Monthly Historical Documents Program, news, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jul 012022
 

Recently APR Patrons/Subscribers and I were able to successfully crowdfund the purchase of a lot off ebay that included a few folders of vintage lifting body work. The chief prize from the lot was a *giant* blueprint of a “GTV Structure,” a manned Model 176/ FDL-7 lifting body test vehicle (“GTV” was not explained, but I suspect it means something like “Glide Test Vehicle,” designed to be dropped from an NB-52). Scanning of the lot is underway; the crowdfunders now have access to the blueprint in several forms (full size, halfsize; full color, grayscale).

 

If you would like to help fund the acquisition and preservation of such things, please consider signing on either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.



 Posted by at 6:46 pm

APR Rewards: June 2022

 aircraft, art, drawings, history, Monthly Historical Documents Program, new products, Patreon, projects, rockets  No Responses »
Jun 302022
 

I’ve just made the June 2022 rewards available for APR Patrons and Subscribers. This latest package includes:

Large format diagram: “X-15 Access Doors.” A North American Aviation diagram from 1956 showing all the openable panels on the port (left) side of the fuselage

Document: “Harpoon Coastal Defense System:” McDonnell Douglas brochure on a truck-launched anti-ship missile

Document: “Harpoon for Fast Patrol Boats:” McDonnell Douglas brochure on anti-ship missiles for small ships

Document: “Shorts Skyvan:” small brochure about the boxy cargo aircraft

Document: “VTOL Design – Turbojet Configurations” Northrop paper on VTOL fighters, mostly a historical review but with basic layouts for designs up to Mach 3

Document: Turbofan propaganda. A number of brochures and data sheets and such on turbofans and turbojets… PW4000, F100, JT9D-7R4, J57.

CAD diagram ($5 and up): IM-99B BOMARC surface to air missile general arrangement

 

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. Back issues are available for purchase by patrons and subscribers.



 

 

 

 

 Posted by at 11:35 pm

QM-1 test firing video

 awesomeness, rockets, youtube  No Responses »
Jun 282022
 

Clearing out the “videos to shove onto YouTube” folder, here’s a cell phone video I shot of the QM-1 test firing back in 2015. It’s got all the production quality you could expect from someone just holding a  phone. And did I miss the ignition? Yes I did.

Here’s another video of mine of the same test, shot with a DSLR camera with a telephoto lens and a tripod. Posted this back when it happened, seven years ago:

 Posted by at 11:27 am
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