Convair 'Project HAZEL' Reconnaissance aircraft

Dynoman

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In the late 1950's the CIA was interested in a boost-glide or ramjet powered manned reconnaissance aircraft and funded a classified study by Convair for the concept definition of such an aircraft. Under the title of Project HAZEL various configurations and types of vehicles (i.e. atmospheric and exo-atmospheric vehicles were considered). This document describes the studies conducted of air breathing jet and ramjet powered aircraft up to 100,000 ft.

https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP89B00709R000400800005-2.pdf
 
Brilliant and amazing find my dear Dynoman,

this Convair ZP-266 is new,and we can put it here.
 

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And;
 

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Dynoman, thank you for sharing
 
Absolutely amazing Dynoman!

The engine nacelles resemble to me the Skylon's ones.....
 
Most interesting...
The obvious question is, where does this fit in with Fish/Kingfish/Super Hustler...

And what's with that MC-10/MC-30 configuration, that ramjet is HUGE!...and made from fibreglass... :eek:

One more image from the report, I think would be useful to post here...

cheers,
Robin.
 

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In this study for Project Hazel the designations were:

Convair MC-10, MC-11, MC-14, MC-15, MC-17, MC-19, MC-20, MC-22, MC-24, PC-20, PC-22, and PC-24.

Their individual configurations are found in this aerodynamics study.

https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP89B00709R000400820001-4.pdf
 
A design study for Project HAZEL.

Interestingly a submarine launched version!

https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP89B00709R000400830001-3.pdf
 
PaulMM (Overscan) said:
ZP-266 is the report designation not an aircraft model number.

Yes my dear Paul,I know that,
 

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And;
 

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And;
 

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fantastic find Dynoman

Looking true papers i notice, is Project Hazel a competitive design to Project Oxcart ? (aka A-12, the build Mach 3 spy plane)
 
Great question! Both occurred about the same time. Lockheed began development of U-2 successor in late 1957, about the same time as Convair's Project HAZEL. Funding for a follow-on vehicle that could replace the U-2 was critical as awareness to its vulnerabilities grew by 1956 (before the U-2 became operational in 1956 estimates for the U-2's life expectancy was only a year and a half before Soviet AD made overflight very difficult).
 
Hm. Reading some of the other files, it appears that the U-2, developed under the title Project Aquatone, then later Project Chalice, was to be replaced by Convair's Project Gusto - which was itself then succeeded by Oxcart. The first Gusto contract was placed in Semptember 1958 - a month before the earliest reports on Project Hazel.
Gusto was the Super Hustler, which of course bore no resemblance to the B-58... so where does Project Hazel fit in?

NB: Reading ZP-253, it says "This report has been prepared in compliance with the requirements of BuAer contract No. 58-812 (SS-100) and Amendment 1, issued 14 August 1958. In May 1958 Convair was asked to perform a study of a high altitude Manned reconnaissance vehicle according to the following requirements:"

Two of those requirements were 'sea-based' and 'Engines for cruise: Marquardt low 'q' ramjet or Hughes slow burning liquid rocket (low IR source type).

So it's just a design study of no particular consequence, seems to me. Also interesting that one of the Project Hazel reports was prepared by Hans H Amtmann - the WW2 Blohm & Voss designer who worked on designs such as the BV 238. I guess his sea-based aircraft BV experience meant he fitted the bill when it came to choosing a designer for the sea-based Project Hazel.
 
Do you understand this part of MC-10 design?
 

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PlanesPictures said:
Do you understand this part of MC-10 design?

Maybe a keel shaped in order to better channel the airflow into the inlet cone?

BTW really an amazing find Dynoman, thanks for sharing!
 
Good Day All -

The separation you note Plane Pictures - possibly to allow boundary flow to stay out of the inlet? Thinking of the Navy connection, I wonder if they were looking at having a stake in strategic reconnaissance, much like putting the P2V Neptune and later AJ Savage and A3D Skywarrior on deck for nuclear delivery to counter the USAF.

In looking at the various designs, they all seem quite small to me for the operational ranges being called out - ramjets aren't exactly fuel effieicnt. Anyone else thinking the same thing?

Enjoy the Day! Mark
 
Mark Nankivil said:
ramjets aren't exactly fuel effieicnt.

Actually, they are, so long as you fly them at almost exactly the design speed & altitude. Remember, the D-21 was a relatively tiny thing, capable of Mach 3.3 at something like 95,000 feet, with a range of 3,000 miles. Look at the D-21... it look like it barely has any volume for fuel, yet it has more range than an unrefueled SR-71.

Ramjets very quickly suck when you fly them slower than their design optimum. Getting them up to speed & altitude under their own power is a great way to blow through their fuel load, but if you can get them there via booster rockets or carrier aircraft, you're golden.
 
A possible derivative was Project SGAPEX or CHAMPION, a boost-glide or "boost-cruise" vehicle studied by Convair San Diego in 1958. Two contracting memos on the CREST site refer to it.

UPDATE: CHAMPION was to use a Hughes liquid rocket and/or a Marquardt ramjet (the ramjet program was administered by the Navy). Both contracts are referred to in the CHAMPION records. Funding in 1958 was around $60,000, and in 1959 was connected or shared with approx. $225,000 for GUSTO (aka IDIOM) out of Convair Ft. Worth.
 

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It's fascinating to see proposals from the brief period when LH and boronated ZIP fuels were still thought to be viable for aircraft propulsion.
 
George Allegrezza said:
A possible derivative was Project SGAPEX or CHAMPION, a boost-glide or "boost-cruise" vehicle studied by Convair San Diego in 1958. Two contracting memos on the CREST site refer to it.

UPDATE: CHAMPION was to use a Hughes liquid rocket and/or a Marquardt ramjet (the ramjet program was administered by the Navy). Both contracts are referred to in the CHAMPION records. Funding in 1958 was around $60,000, and in 1959 was connected or shared with approx. $225,000 for GUSTO (aka IDIOM) out of Convair Ft. Worth.

Wow - I imagine Convair would barely have got out of bed for $60,000. SGAPEX (CHAMPION) can't have been particularly important/well-developed. Those CIA records are a goldmine on GUSTO, however.
 
I need to go back and read Paul Suhler's book -- he had a great narrative of how all of these developmental threads came together.
 
Sherman Tank said:
It's fascinating to see proposals from the brief period when LH and boronated ZIP fuels were still thought to be viable for aircraft propulsion.

Hydrogen still is - look at Boeing's Phantom Eye.

Martin
 
what is the part before cockpit? It is over profile of wing
 

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PlanesPictures said:
what is the part before cockpit? It is over profile of wing

I think it's just a line showing the angles of vision for the pilot, though I could be wrong.
 
PlanesPictures said:
what is the part before cockpit? It is over profile of wing
 

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Not exactly sure but this may be the reason for the single engine variant having that ridge in the structure.
 

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little crude solution. For now
 

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Mentioned earlier in the thread Project Champion was another interesting concept of the time.

CHAMPION: NAVY INFLATABLE DESIGNS (Chp 8 From Rainbow to Gusto)

"On 14 August 1958, three weeks after his previous trip, (Clarence Kelly Johnson) Johnson was back at the program office to get the details of the Navy proposal. Under a Navy project named CHAMPION, Goodyear was proposing a reconnaissance vehicle having inflatable wings that could be rolled up while the vehicle was transported on an aircraft carrier and then inflated for launch (Interview with Sherre Lovick, Northridge, CA, 4 Feb. 2006). It was intended to be ramjet powered and to cruise at 125,000 to 150,000 ft. A balloon would lift it to altitude. Johnson made a quick calculation and decided that the balloon would have to be over a mile in diameter. He is said to have remarked, “Gentlemen, that’s a lot of hot air.” Goodyear’s propeller-driven Inflatoplane had already been flying for two years, but at a maximum speed of 72 miles per hour and at a maximum altitude of 10,000 ft. The Land Panel probably recognized that Goodyear was in a situation similar to Randolph Rae and Garrett, a builder of a small, simple aircraft proposing to build a large, complex aircraft to operate in a flight regime in which the company had no experience. Having an experienced company like Lockheed perform a sanity check on the concept was essential.
 
For this project I found in my archives Boeing's original drawing of B-52B model. But from net I read "Leading Edge Sweep: 35°"- red line on drawing. Had B-52B wing with other leading edge sweep as newest B-52s versions (blue line on drawing) or this drawing is total fake?
 

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Dynoman said:
Mentioned earlier in the thread Project Champion was another interesting concept of the time.

CHAMPION: NAVY INFLATABLE DESIGNS (Chp 8 From Rainbow to Gusto)

"On 14 August 1958, three weeks after his previous trip, (Clarence Kelly Johnson) Johnson was back at the program office to get the details of the Navy proposal. Under a Navy project named CHAMPION, Goodyear was proposing a reconnaissance vehicle having inflatable wings that could be rolled up while the vehicle was transported on an aircraft carrier and then inflated for launch (Interview with Sherre Lovick, Northridge, CA, 4 Feb. 2006). It was intended to be ramjet powered and to cruise at 125,000 to 150,000 ft. A balloon would lift it to altitude. Johnson made a quick calculation and decided that the balloon would have to be over a mile in diameter. He is said to have remarked, “Gentlemen, that’s a lot of hot air.” Goodyear’s propeller-driven Inflatoplane had already been flying for two years, but at a maximum speed of 72 miles per hour and at a maximum altitude of 10,000 ft. The Land Panel probably recognized that Goodyear was in a situation similar to Randolph Rae and Garrett, a builder of a small, simple aircraft proposing to build a large, complex aircraft to operate in a flight regime in which the company had no experience. Having an experienced company like Lockheed perform a sanity check on the concept was essential.

In Johnson's own words... https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP90B00170R000100050008-1.pdf
 

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