Jun 062023
 

I put one copy of each of my current books on ebay. They’re all in brand-new condition, and will be signed/dated when sold. They also come with bonus 18X24-inch prints… the “SR-71” book has two prints of the SR-71, the “B-47/B-52” book has one B-47 diagram and two B-52 diagrams; “US Supersonic Bomber Projects Vol. 1” has two B-70 Valkyrie diagrams. Take a look…

 

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird (Origins and Evolution): Signed, with bonus prints

Boeing B-47 Stratojet and B-52 Stratofortress: Signed, with bonus prints

US Supersonic Bomber Projects Volume 1:  Signed, with bonus prints

 

 Posted by at 11:36 pm
May 222023
 

With the release of my latest book, I went to Amazon to see if my previous works are currently available (SR-71: yes; B-47/B-52: yes; Vol 1: currently no). In the process, I was surprised to see that there is a *hardback* version of my SR-71 book available. This is surprising for several reasons…

1: No mention of it was made to me by the publisher

2: It’s a relatively slim volume for a hardback

3: There has been some discussion, so far quite preliminary, of an expanded version of the SR-71 book at some point in the future, which would be more appropriate as a hardback.

Anyway, the listing looks like this:

 

“Huh,” sez I, so I click on the “hardback” link to see what it looks like. And… it looks like this:

 

 

Wait, what?

 

Now, that’s a perfectly fine book. I have a copy myself. But it’s not *my* book.

 

I also noticed that there are 187 reviews, which is substantially more than I recall there being. And that’s because the reviews for Goodall’s book are mashed in with reviews for mine.

Somebody hit the wrong button somewhere.

So if you want to get a copy or three of my book – an urge I wholeheartedly support – just make sure you order the right book. I’ve contacted the publisher about this and they’re baffled; they’ve contacted the people they need to to try to get this weirdness resolved.

 

 

Oh, and there’s this, for whatever it’s worth:

 

Woo, and, indeed, hoo.

 Posted by at 3:25 pm
Sep 062022
 

I looked through a small fraction of my surprisingly vast pile of CAD diagrams for some I thought might look good in really large format. Some I’ve gone some distance towards formatting them that way already; some are still formatted for small sheets. There are more, of course. In no particular order.

Lockheed CL-400 “Suntan”

Lockheed M-21/D-21:

Lockheed A-12:

Lockheed SR-71A:

Lockheed YF-12A:

X-20 Dyna Soar/Titan III:

A number of 10-Meter Orion vehicles/sub-vehicles:

USAF 10-meter Orion:

General Dynamics “Kingfish:”

North American XF-108:

Lockheed A-12 concept w/canards:

Boeing B-47E:

Boeing B-52G:

Boeing B-52H:

Boeing B-52H + Skybolt:

Boeing DB-47E + Bold Orion:

Rockwell Star Raker:

Boeing “Big Onion” SSTO:

Boeing Space Freighter:

NASA Saturn C-8:

Lockheed STAR Clipper:

 

 

 Posted by at 4:47 pm
Jan 262022
 

Below is one of the diagrams that I used to help create “Lockheed SR-71: Origins and Evolution.” It is a Lockheed diagram taken from a CIA report showing the D-21 drone atop an M-21 mothership… basically a two-seat version of the A-12 spyplane. The D-21 program as a whole was a dismal failure, but launching it from the back of a manned Mach 3 aircraft proved to be fatal. Still, the D-21, for all the trouble it had, was an impressive piece of work; had there been more of a drive to make it work, doubtless Lockheed would have made it into a successful recon platform. But the time, effort and expense just didn’t compare well to results from spy satellites, and the program was ended. A number of airframes have been preserved, and there have been attempts to resurrect them for use as experimental platforms.

 

The full-rez diagram has been uploaded to the 2022-01 APR Extras folder on Dropbox. This is available to all $4 and up Patrons and 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.




 

I plan on uploading a number of the diagrams, art and whatnot that I used to create the CAD diagrams in “SR-71” the the APR extras Dropbox in the coming months.

 Posted by at 12:13 am
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
Nov 212021
 

Amazon currently has my “SR-71” bookazine for thirteen bucks, plus shipping. Woo. Get a few copies now, before Christmas comes and you fall short and you have to live in eternal shame that you did not have enough copies to gift to all your friends, family, co-workers, arch-enemies and random people on the street.

 

 Posted by at 2:06 pm
Oct 142021
 

Because of course I did, I’ve googled my own book to see where it might be available in the US for reasonable prices. I’ve not purchased from these sources, so YMMV. The prices and availability are as I type this, so they might vary.

Casemate Publishers: $12.99, but currently out of stock.

Book Despository: $17.01, free delivery worldwide.

World of Books: $14.39, but currently out of stock.

Books A Million: $16.84 (one copy)

 

 

 Posted by at 11:38 pm
Oct 142021
 

You might have noticed that the price of my SR-71 book on Amazon is highly variable. It was originally something like $13 direct from Amazon; it’s now something like $27 from secondary sellers on Amazon. This is due to Amazons supply having sold out. I’ve been informed that another shipment has been sent to Amazons supplier, so the direct Amazon price should return to normal in three weeks or so. Just in time for Christmas, so when that price returns to normal don’t waste a second and promptly order a few hundred copies.

It remains available direct from the publisher for £8.99  which is about the price it should be on Amazon… but shipping from Britain to the US is kinda steep.

https://www.classicmagazines.co.uk/product/5603/bookazine-lockheed-sr-71-blackbird-origins-evolution

 Posted by at 3:57 am
Sep 092021
 

Some time during the next month or so I plan on taking a trip to the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum near Ashland, Nebraska. I have visited that museum many times over the years, but always while traveling back and forth, thus never able to spend more than an hour or so. I wanted to get there during the work on the SR-71 book so I could properly over-photograph their SR-71, but schedule, cost and a little thing called a “global pandemic” kept me home.

I still want to excessively photograph their SR-71 in order to perfect the large format print diagrams. And additionally, a potential future book (in discussion with Mortons, but nothing certain yet) would be aided by excessively over-photographing another aircraft in the SAC museum collection. I plan on taking a *lot* of photos (likely in the thousands) covering several aircraft in painful detail.

I had hoped that the release of “SR-71” would bring in increased business (the APR Patreon/Monthly Historical Documents Program, USBP’s, etc), but as has been all too common, business has actually *dropped* since the book came out. One of these days I swear I’ll figure out how every time I try my hand at advertising business actually collapses. I suspect that the truth of it will help open doorways into research in practical time travel, faster than light travel and popularity with women.

So, once again, I’m grubbing for funds to support this trip. If interested in helping out, just below there’s a drop-down menu of PayPal options, from “moral support” to “large sums.” The “Best Of” option will get those who chose it, as the title suggests, a selection of the best photos, probably over a hundred. The “All the Photos” option gives the funder just what it says, all the photos taken at the museum, including any panoramic shots I stitch together. The photos will be provided by way of a Dropbox folder or a ZIP file with all the photos.

I *may* extend the trip another day down the road to Denver to hit up the Wings Over The Rockies Museum for the same purpose, but only if there’s enough “investment.” If that happens, those who go for the full set of photos will also get the full set of photos from the WOTR Museum as well.

UPDATE: I’ve updated the draw-down PayPal menu. It didn’t have the prices on there initially.



SAC Museum photo trip




 Posted by at 10:29 pm