Boeing Model 820 (some sort of transport version of B-52)

[frank]

While cleaning out an old desk drawer, I found a fairly poor photo-copy of a page from APR Sept - Oct 2001 showing some tiny drawings of various a/c. One is the title subject, a 2 view of the a/c. My stash of old APRs aren't handy at the moment. The copy mentions it's a teaser of upcoming projects, but I don't recall anything on this a/c in subsequent issues. If Scott wants to post the drawing I mentioned, that's up to him, (mine's so tiny it'd be pointless & it doesn't enlarge well, either) but if there's any other info available on this, I'd be interested. I might want to model it. Also, Scott, if you have a better, bigger drawing available, I'd be interested if it's not too expensive. Thanks.

 

[Vahe Demirjian]

Does anyone else have drawings or specs for the Model 820? These might be interesting to glance given that American Secret Projects 3: US Airlifters 1962 to present is due out this fall.

 

[Orionblamblam]

One iteration of the Model 820 (there were quite a number of variants) is described and illustrated in US Transport Projects #5:

http://www.aerospaceprojectsreview.com/blog/?p=2538

It's the aircraft in the middle in the image below:




The same issue includes info and diagrams of an early Sikorsky SST, a giant Boeing "resource carrier," the "Hot Eagle" suborbital troop-lobber, a nuclear powered seaplane to tow C-5 Galaxies...

 

[Vahe Demirjian]

One iteration of the Model 820 (there were quite a number of variants) is described and illustrated in US Transport Projects #5:

http://www.aerospaceprojectsreview.com/blog/?p=2538

It's the aircraft in the middle in the image below:



The same issue includes info and diagrams of an early Sikorsky SST, a giant Boeing "resource carrier," the "Hot Eagle" suborbital troop-lobber, a nuclear powered seaplane to tow C-5 Galaxies...

I got a copy of your new book about the B-47 and B-52 last month, and given that you discussed the Model 820-100 in US Transport Projects #5, other variants of the Model 820 (those based on the B-52) can be summarized as follows:

• Model 820-101: straight-wing transport with four T57 turboprops and outrigger landing gear to prevent the wingtips from striking the ground.
• Model 820-102: similar to the Model 820-100 but with two clamshell cargo doors and eight turbofans.
• Model 820-103: transport with the fuselage similar to the Model 820-101 but circular in cross-section with external sponsons and powered by eight turbojets; two sub-variants, the 820-103A and 820-103B, differed in having slightly reshaped sponsons.
• Model 820-104: tilt-wing transport with six turboprops.
• Model 820-105: flying boat transport with backswept wings and eight turbofans paired on four pylons above and ahead of the wings.
• Model 820-106: amphibious transport with a shallower fuselage and rectangular cargo loading door on the port side of the aft fuselage.
• Model 820-108: similar to the Model 820-100 but with greater wingspan, four turbofans in two outboard nacelles and two inboard nuclear-powered turbojets in individual nacelles.
• Model 820-108A: version of the Model 820-108A with the inboard nuclear-powered turbojets replaced by four turbofans.
• Model 820-109: similar to the 820-108 and 820-108A but with four nuclear turbojets.
• Model 820-110: transport with a narrow cylindrical fuselage and four high-bypass turbofans.
• Model 820-111: tilt-wing transport with two wings and powered by 12 turboprops (six per wing).

There was another Model 820 design study, the Model 820-107, which was not a B-52 derivative but a Mach 3 supersonic transport with twelve turbojets in two swiveling podded clusters at the wingtips and four more turbojets in two pairs on the forward fuselage, a length of 338 feet (103.02 meters), a wingspan of 148 feet 3 in (45.19 meters), and a height of 40 feet 5 in (12.32 meters). As noted in American Secret Projects 2: US Airlifters 1941 to 1961, the Model 820 design studies were collectively called the Long-Range Military Air-Logistics System (LRMALS).

That said, the Model 820-104 and 820-111 were unorthodox in terms of being tilt-wings, while the Model 820-107 was one of a few Mach 3 supersonic transports for the US Air Force. The design layout of the Model 820-105 and 820-106 reminds me of the Martin SeaMistress, because either one of them would have carried troops and battlefield equipment to enemy shores, much like the KM.