Fifth in the series of reconstructed drawings from Paul Suhler’s book “From RAINBOW to GUSTO.” This is the “Peterbilt” tow plane designed by Ed Baldwin. This is Figure 49. Due to medium image quality in the original, this particular drawing has a Source Grade of three: 
“RAINBOW to GUSTO” is available from Amazon.com (for $39.95) and direct from the AIAA ($29.95 for AIAA members).
To download the high-rez version of the “Peterbilt” drawing, simply click THIS LINK. You will be prompted for a username and a password. For the “Peterbilt” drawing, use these:
Username: the first word in the body of the text on page 103
Password: the first word in the body of the text on page105
(Remember: Case Sensitive!)
Up next: Figure 51a, Ramjet “Kite 1”
3 Responses to ““From RAINBOW to GUSTO:” Peterbilt tow plane”
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Okay, I give up… what’s it supposed to tow…some sort of ramjet?
Any one of 3 proposed ramjet propelled follow ons to the U2.
To whet your appetite “Configuration A used inflatable structures for the wings and tail”
Given the size of the jet engines on the tow plane, the ramjet must be pretty big indeed.
This thing looks like it could pull a B-58 around. 🙂