Books Worth Buying: Convair Advanced Designs

If you read the Unwanted Blog for unbuilt aircraft and spacecraft designs, then Robert Bradley’s “Convair Advanced Designs: Secret Projects From San Diego 1923-1962” should be right up your alley. Published earlier this year by the now-shutting-down Specialty Press, it is packed with art, diagrams and info on a large number of unbuilt seaplane and bomber concepts. From some rather obvious design revisions to the PBY “Catalina” to some truly oddball configurations (multi-hull seaplanes, flying wing seaplanes, aircraft with control surfaces that translate fore and aft on tracks on the fuselage, etc.) this books has ’em all.

An autogyro conversion of the Consolidated Model 31

At 184 pages, the book is a quality hardback with well reproduced black and white drawings, photos and artists impressions. This was to be Volume One of two, with the second volume dealing with fighter concepts. With the end of Specialty Press, the future of Volume Two is uncertain, but it will probably go to a different publisher.

And a note: since Specialty Press has decided to get out of the business, iot’s not clear that there will be that many more copies of “Convair Advanced Designs” available on the market. So snap ’em up before they’re gone.

Additional Note: Bob has written several articles for Aerospace Projects Review on various Convair design projects.

Note: you can also start your Amazon searches right here…