Lockheed AP-12

 aircraft, awesomeness, Book X, books, drawings, history, Hmm..., Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Origins and Evolution, projects, rockets, spacecraft, SR-71 Origins and Evolution  No Responses »
Jan 042022
 

The Lockheed Skunk Works A-12 was the immediate predecessor of the SR-71, a single seat recon vehicle in some ways a bit superior to the SR-71, in others not as good. One of the odder ideas put forward was to use the A-12 to carry a modified Polaris missile with a recon satellite on a once-around mission… a way to turn the Mach 3+ A-12 into a global range hypersonic, nearly orbit-capable recon platform. It was bonkers, but the math checked out; nevertheless it was not built. It is described in greater detail in:

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird – Origins & Evolution

Available either directly through the publisher or through Amazon.

 Posted by at 3:14 am

Argh

 AARRRGH, aircraft, art, B-47 and B-52 Origins and Evolution, blather, Book 3, books, drawings, Gah., Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Origins and Evolution, Monthly Historical Documents Program, projects, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Dec 232021
 

I’m working on CAD diagrams for Book 3. As with the prior two books, this will be largely filled with diagrams of unbuilt aircraft, but also will have diagrams of real, flown aircraft. The diagrams of “real” aircraft take far longer than those of “project” aircraft for a few simple reasons: “real” aircraft have a lot more information, and a lot more accessible detail… and “real” aircraft are subject to critique by others to a higher degree than “project” aircraft. Couple that with an urge to craftsmanship, and “real” aircraft can be a real chore to diagram.

So the aircraft I’m working on now is pretty well known. Unfortunately, “well known” does not always (or even often) result in “well described and illustrated with official, large, high rez, precise and accurate diagrams” from which to work. I’m trying to reconcile official diagrams taken from blueprints and technical manuals, and it’s a massive pain in my keister: a diagram that at first seemed spectacular – showing the structural frames *and* their fuselage stations – turns out to be a mess, because the fuselage stations aren’t anything like to scale. None of the diagrams agree with each other or photos of the aircraft as far as the exact shape of the canopy. Gah.

So I hope y’all appreciate what I have to go through…

Buy my books!

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird – Origins & Evolution.

B-47 Stratojet and B-52 Stratofortress: Origins and Evolution.

Subscribe to the Monthly Historical Documents Program!

 Posted by at 7:38 pm

B-47/B-52 prints

 aircraft, art, B-47 and B-52 Origins and Evolution, books, drawings, history  No Responses »
Dec 152021
 

Still waiting for my box of books to get here from the publisher in Britain. As repeatedly mentioned before, I will sell a limited number of signed & numbered copies with signed & numbered 18X24 prints. The prints are unfinished yet, but the image below shows what I’m working on: a B-47E (in 1/100 scale), a B-52G and a B-52H (in 1/144 scale), with some of the payloads they carried. I considered the NB-52B, but it had so many payloads that it would end up being a crowded mess.

Opinions?

 

PS: unrelated to anything, anybody know what plane this is?

 Posted by at 12:51 am

B-47/B-52 update

 aircraft, B-47 and B-52 Origins and Evolution, Book X, books, drawings, news, projects  No Responses »
Dec 062021
 

I hear tell that some copies of the book are to be shipped my way in the next few days, taking however long it takes to cross the Atlantic ocean. I would assume that customers who ordered directly from Mortons will get their copies shipped soon. Not sure about Amazon orders, though the listing currently says Feb 7.

I will have a limited number for signed copies (around 20). As with the SR-71 bookazine, I will include 18X24 prints made specifically for these signed copies; all copies will be signed and numbered. I expect that these will be $55 plus shipping, though I intend to auction #’s 1 through 5.

 Posted by at 3:32 am

November 2021 APR Rewards

 aircraft, awesomeness, drawings, history, Monthly Historical Documents Program, nukes, Patreon, projects, rockets, science, spacecraft  No Responses »
Dec 012021
 

The rewards for November, 2021, have been sent out. Patrons should have received a notification message through Patreon linking to the rewards; subscribers should have received a notification from Dropbox linking to the rewards. If you did not, let me know.

Document: “Galactic-Jupiter Probe Program Concept:” 1967 NASA-Goddard brochure describing a Pioneer/Voyager type of space probe

Document: “Mixed Mode Rocket Vehicles for International Space Transportation Systems,” 1973 paper describing modified Shuttles and other launch vehicles

Document: “Nuclear Physics Made Very, Very Easy,”1968 NASA NERVA test operation publication that summarizes nuclear physics

Diagram: Navalized Advanced tactical Fighter (Northrop NF-23) general arrangement

CAD Diagram ($5 and up): “Disney Bomb,” British designed and built, American dropped rocket-boosted submarine pen penetrating bomb from the end of WWII

 

If this sort of thing is of interest, sign up either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program. *ALL* back issues, one a month since 2014, are available for subscribers at low cost.



 Posted by at 12:42 am

B-52G info: better late than never

 aircraft, art, awesomeness, B-47 and B-52 Origins and Evolution, books, drawings, history, Monthly Historical Documents Program, Patreon  No Responses »
Nov 182021
 

My book on the B-52 is now being printed (I understand that copies physically exist), so it is perhaps a little late for additions and revisions. Still, I remain on the lookout for relevant information. To that end I recently plunked down a fair chunk of change for a pair of documents on ebay… a set of blueprints of the B-52G cockpit, and a B-52G mockup review. I eagerly await their arrival. I have high hopes that the US Postal Service won’t drop a tractor axle dipped in anthrax onto the package.

These will likely end up in the catalog for monthly rewards. If they are of interest, and/or 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 12:07 pm

A3J-1 Vigilante

 aircraft, awesomeness, drawings, history, Monthly Historical Documents Program, Patreon  No Responses »
Nov 182021
 

Back in the day, aerospace companies would actively court the public, including those crazy kids who liked to make models. To that end, a number of aerospace companies would release surprisingly nice diagrams of their aircraft. North American Aviation was one such company, and one of their aircraft that they diagrammed for the public was the A3J-1 (later A-5) Vigilante supersonic carrier based bomber. Oddly, I’ve had trouble finding the full scale print of this… but then, I’ve had trouble finding *most* of the ones released by North American. Seems that they tended to not survive to make it to ebay. However, I recently acquired a copy of an old magazine that had the Vigilante diagram, reproduced reasonably well. Woo.

A 300 dpi scan of the diagram has been made available to $4 and up patrons/subscribers in the 2021-11 APR Extras Dropbox folder. A 600 dpi scan has been made available to above-$10 patrons/subscribers. 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 1:57 am

Signed B-47/52 book interest?

 aircraft, B-47 and B-52 Origins and Evolution, books, drawings, history, projects  No Responses »
Nov 072021
 

I have not yet heard how much it will cost me to buy copies of my new book for signing.  But for estimating purposes I think I’ll probably have to charge something like $50 each plus media mail postage. I don’t want to guess what it’d cost to ship them internationally. Yikes. But as I did with the SR-71 book, signed copies would likely have signed 18×24 prints as a bonus… in this case, probably 3 or 4. Subjects as yet undetermined. I’m far from taking orders, but I’m interested in getting a read on the level of interest.  If spending $50 or more on a signed copy sounds like something you’d want to do, send me an email:

 Posted by at 11:19 pm
 Older Entries  Newer Entries