I’ve got the first of the Patreon-supported “PDF Reviews” up over at the APR Blog.
A ginormous glider designed and patented by Burt Rutan carrying a space launch rocket on its back, towed by a jetliner and performing some interesting maneuvers to assure positive separation.
For $10 patrons on my Patreon campaign, a new message should appear there asking you to vote on what I’ll release in August (two documents and one large format diagram). For those who are $10 patrons, here’s a partial list anyway… if you see something there and you really want to make sure it becomes available, well, the obvious thing to do is sign on and vote!
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Drawing: fairly detailed 3-view of Lunar Roving Vehicle (as actually flown to the moon)
Drawing: “Plans for Scale Model Construction of the Honest John Surface-to-Surface Missile” by McDonnell-Douglas, 1971 (does anyone know of more of these???)
Document: “Douglas Aircraft Company: An Overview,” 60+ page brochure showing existing and proposed jetliners, by McDonnell-Douglas, ca. 1980
Art: a vintage lithograph of the Lockheed L-2000 SST in flight, w/3 view on the back.
Document: “CT-39 International Sabreliner,” a Rockwell International booklet/brochure describing the multipurpose utility jet
Document: “Air Force Expeditionary Catapult,” a truly massive billet of paper serving as a proposal from the All American Engineering Company for the System 300 Catapult, 1955. This was to be a turbojet-powered cable launching system for jet fighters which could be easily transported and set up in the field. (NOTE: this one counts as two reports, as it’s fairly gigantic)
Document: Aeroassisted Flight Experiment Nonadvocate Review, 1989, NASA
Document: Pocket Data for Rocket Engines, 1953, Bell
Document: SAM-D Air Defense Weapon System, 1973, US Army
Document: Pilots Handbook of Operation XLR11-RM-3 & XLR11-RM-5, liquid Rocket Engines, 1950, Reaction Motors
Art: X-15 lithograph (date unknown)
Document: The Centaur Program, 1961, Convair
Document: Orbiter Vehicle Structures, Rockwell
Document: An integrated Moonmobile-Spacesuit Concept, 1961, Aerojet
Document: The Intercontinental Stratoliner 707-320, 1955, Boeing
Document: Douglas DC-8 Design Study, 1953, Douglas
Document: Transport Weight Comparison Based on Lockheed 49-10, 1943, Lockheed
Document: ETR Launch Operations Plan for Cenaur on Shuttle, 1979, General Dynamics
Diagram: MD-11 wing diagram, six-feet long: McDonnel-Douglas, 1995
Document: A Lockheed presentation on the GL-224 Turbo-Jet VTOL Aircraft, 1958
Document: A Project RAND report on the GG-2 all-wing bomber, 1949
Document: A small Rockwell brochure on the “common core” concept for a fixed-wing subsonic B-1 variant, 1979 4) A presentation on the Douglas “Skybus,” 1944
Document: A NAA report on a turboprop-powered F-82E for ground attack, 1949
Document: A Curtis report on the twin engined F-87C, 1948
Document: A Vertol report on VTOL transport aircraft, showing several very different configurations, 1956
Document: A Lockheed presentation to the AIAA on the history of the Fleet Ballistic Missile, 1978
Document: A collection of Manned Spacecraft Center Space Shuttle orbiter concepts, 1972
Document: A Convair collection of design drawings of an Assault Seaplane, 1948 (NOTE: this one counts as two reports, as it’s fairly gigantic)
Document: A Vought report on the Regulus II missile with detailed diagrams, 1955
I’m about $21 short of the next milestone, which will result in two “PDF reviews” per month of little-known online aerospace history resources. So if that idea appeals… consider signing up (and telling all your friends who have a few dimes to rub together).
Also: in August there will be three documents/large format diagrams released, along with three CAD diagrams. The documents/LFD’s are yet to be chosen (the $10 patron will get to vote on this in the next week or so), but the CAD diagrams are underway. One is already basically complete: the first accurate and clean, large 3-view diagram of the Northrop Tacit Blue demonstrator. The second will be of a proposed launch vehicle. The third is still up in the air.
Woo! We’ve passed the $400 milestone, so starting in August there will be three uploads. At this time I’m expecting to release two documents and one large format diagram (there are many more of the former than latter). Only a little further to the first Online Review milestone!
The first month of my Patreon thingie is up and running now. Available – until next month, when they’ll be replaced by the next set of stuff – are the following:
1) A large format diagram of the B/J-58, a Convair concept for a two-engine tactical B-58
2) A PDF document, “Manned Space Stations and Alternatives” which covers Gemini and Dyna Soar-based small MOL-like station concepts, and includes info on the Gemini satellite inspector/interceptor
3) Two CAD diagrams, one of the McDonnell-Douglas Model 192 ISINGLASS hypersonic rocket-powered recon platform, the other comparing the Titan IIIC with the Titan IIIC/Dyna Soar and the Titan IIIM/MOL.
If you’d be interested in helping me dig up and release this sort of obscure aerospace historical material, or if you want to get in on the rewards, please consider joining my Patreon.
I have added another milestone to my Patreon campaign. If I get to $500 of patronage…
There are a lot of PDF (and Powerpoint) references available online that would be of interest to aerospace aficionados. But that’s kinda the problem: there are a *lot* of them. NASA alone has had millions of reports online. There are far too many for any one person to even try to get a handle on. However… I’ve got a handle on a great many of them. While they are – or in some cases were – freely available online, you’d have to know they existed first. Well… for many thousands of such reports… I know they exist. So at this milestone, I’ll post reviews, including illustrations, of two such reports or presentations per month. Additionally, I’ll post links to the reports or, in some cases, the reports themselves.
So rather than just some snipped images, you’ll get the images, a description of the report *and* the report itself, posted to the APR Blog. This is in addition to the reports, brochures, documents and diagrams that get sent to patrons, stuff that *isn’t* otherwise available.
OK, things seem to be proceeding. The pledge level is at the “2 uploads per month” level, the first months pledge funds have been debited from the patrons and credited to my account. Due to fees and patrons that haven’t been debited – I’m guessing they’re signed up via credit cards that take days to verify or something – slightly less than 2/3 of the pledge amount actually comes through. So now that that’s underway, the next step is for the $10+ patrons to begin voting on *what* I’ll upload. I suspect that, depending on the vote, I’ll be able to make the uploaded drawings & documents available in around 10 days.
If you are one of the $10+ patrons, look for a message from me several hours from now. But right now I’m heading out to pick up a CD filled with large format scans from the print shop… and to drop off a number more large format diagrams to be scanned. Huzzah!
I have a pretty fair supply of interesting documents and large format drawings… but not an infinite supply. Consequently, I’m in the market. Do you have interesting aerospace (aircraft, missiles, spacecraft or even perhaps unusual naval or terrestrial projects) documents, large format diagrams or actual blueprints? If so, let’s talk. I’d like to borrow, rent or buy such things. My preference is of course for unbuilt projects, but basically *anything* interesting would be… interesting.
If you have something you’d be willing to share, but not give away, I’d be happy to scan it and send it back ASAP. Alternatively, I’d be happy with good scans.
Additionally: a lot of interesting stuff pops up on eBay. I am actively trolling eBay for such things; just bought two documents tonight. But there’s so much stuff on eBay, with such weird and divergent descriptions, that I can’t possibly hope to catch everything. So if you see something on eBay that looks interesting, by all means let me know.
Woo! As it stands now to get the full-rez versions of large format diagrams and brochures costs a mere $5 per month, which gets you two of ’em… meaning that at $2.50 each, that’s less than I normally sell these things for individually. And of course those pledging more than that get more goodies in the form of CAD diagrams.
The next milestone will obviously take it to three uploads a month. Personally I have high hopes that I will eventually get to where I’m doing six uploads a month. That seems about right.
I need to add a Patreon link thingie to the righthand side of the blog. I think I’ll simply replace the “subscribe” button, because let’s face it, that now seems pretty obsolete. How’s about this for the image to go with it:
Too subtle?
Here are photos of portions of a few documents I’m considering as Patreon rewards. These have not yet been scanned in; some will require a bit of effort to make them presentable, but all are pretty interesting in my view. If I understand the Patreon system correctly, the system debits the credit cards or PayPal accounts of those who have pledged at the “end of the month ” (any day now, I expect), and the rewards will be distributed a few days later – when I have them ready – to those who have been successfully charged. The upshot is that if you buy in the day *after* billing, you don’t get the rewards for this month, but only *next* month. So you miss out on the first batch. The $100 benchmark is safely in the past, and there seems to be a slow creep towards the $200 benchmark, which will mean two uploads as rewards for the first month is feasible. In the event that the contribution level gets there, I’ll try to have one large format drawing and one document per month, so long as that’s practical.
So if you don’t want to miss anything, sign up soon!
A NASA report from 1972 showing a *lot* of designs for Space Shuttle concepts. Includes designs that clearly foreshadowed the Shuttle as actually built, as well as some really wacky ones.
Two official aircraft recognition guides from the early 1950s to help ground observers tell friendlies from potential bandits.
A Convair report from 1948 on an assault seaplane. Includes a *lot* of excessively detailed design diagrams. This one might have to be broken up into several parts due to the size of it.
A report on the Regulus II missile which includes detailed diagrams of both the tactical missile version and the reusable test flight version. Some really snazzy large foldouts, which will require a bit of work to clean up.
