Jun 302008
A commonly discussed bit of aerospace artwork is a North American Aviation painting of a scramjet-powered research vehicle that seems to bear some faint resemblance to the X-15. This is something I’ve personally been looking for more info on for some years, basically without result. All i’ve found on it is a high-quality copy of the painting itself from the Boeing archive… and a three-view of extremely dubious provenance that purports to be a 1/72 scale drawing of the beast. However, I suspect that the drawing is in fact “fan art” produced by someone looking at that same painting. Still, it’s all I’ve found.
7 Responses to “Scramjet X-15 derivative”
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Oh, _that’s_ what it looks like!
I’ve been hunting around for that particular piece of artwork for well over a decade.
Looks like it could have been something out of the X-24C program.
I see it uses the B-70 type compression lift concept with the down-swept wingtips.
No matter what Jay Miller says in his “X-Planes” book, that doesn’t look like it has much X-15 input onto the overall design, or off-the-shelf X-15 parts.
Pat
“I’ve been hunting around for that particular piece of artwork for well over a decade.”
You should’ve asked. I’ve had this scan since ’03 (in much higher rez than shown here). Along with a few others which will eventually get posted, but nothing that is closely related to *this* design.
There were a bunch of similar designs generated in the late ’60’s and early ’70’s. I’ve also seen several related display models and wind tunnel models.
You’re right that this one doesn’t look much like an X-15, but it does seem to sport the NAA logo on the tail.
I have an inhouse illustration showing the X-15 A-2 being launched from the NB-52. There’s a clear acetate overlay on which a similar shaped X-15 Scramjet vehicle is painted, it looks like a delta A3 with the ramjet, on the tail is the word HYTID the date of the painting is 1976.
One day, my semi feral kitty, Xena, the worrier princess, came running into my office, ran across the top of my drating table, hopped onto my flat files, ran over to this painting and peed all over it, causing some of the gauche to run.. Some day I’ll fix it. I also owned paintings of Rockwells Transatmosphereic vehicle, one painting appears in the book on the Aurora. I’m trying to buy iy back, I collect inhouse aerospace artwork.
JP
Would make for an interesting model… I have an old Estes semi-scale X-15 rocket, hmmm.
The large rear-mounted wing and rudder area should make a model rocket version of it fairly easy to make stable with some nose ballast, particularly if the wingtips are modeled in the down-swept position.
The fuselage bears a real resemblance to a lot of the later NASP designs, with their flat fuselage tops.
I love this design. I would like a hi-rez version of it. This kind of stuff is great framed on the wall.