Air Launch to Orbit Systems

[Delta Force]

I tried using the search button for this, but I haven't had much success. I was wondering if anyone has any information on air launch to orbit systems, especially from the early history of space travel. I think there may have been some interceptor and Space Shuttle based proposals (well, one of the different Shuttle proposals), but I've only managed to find casual references to air launch systems from before the 1980s. I'm still interested in anything you might have on Pegasus and the Soviet/Russian systems, but I would really like anything you might have on such systems from before the 1980s.

 

[XP67_Moonbat]

Projects TOWN HALL, HIGH VIRGO, and NOTSNIK are a good start for you.

 

[blackstar]

There's a ton of information on these things, all over the web. Try NASASpaceflight.com for extensive discussions of Stratolaunch and its predecessors (there are a number of AIAA papers on there where people have studied the engineering). You might also look up Project Pilot. And there were proposals in the 1960s for various air-launched vehicles, including dropping from a C-130. I also did a series of articles on the Air Launched Sortie Vehicle (which went by a few different names) on The Space Review several years ago.

There should be some stuff on this site, but a lot more on others.

 

[Delta Force]

Projects TOWN HALL, HIGH VIRGO, and NOTSNIK are a good start for you.

There were proposals to use High Virgo as a launch vehicle? I thought it was only an ALBM/ASAT?