Goodyear "Convoplane"

It is 1959. I posted that pic some time ago here:

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,2140.75.html

Reply #84
;)
 
Your pic comes from Air Progress 1969, mine's from Mecánica Popular October 1959.
 
In an obscure Soviet (yes) publication of late '60s, translated by the US Government translation service and published in an similarly obscure US publication http://www.springerlink.com/content/t8827m6222586453/ there is this note: "Goodyear pushing MMRBM transporter, Aviation Weekly, Space Technology, 7_6, 7, 92-97 (1962) ". Problem is that I have consulted the AW&ST collection, but there ain't anything in that issue. The Convoplane could be what Goodyear thought of using riding around the MMRBM.
 
Artist's concept and diagram of Goodyear Aircraft Company Convoplane circa 1959.

The Convoplane can be designed as a small, light plane for reconnaissance or it can be built larger to transport material.
Click to expand...

Source: "'Helicopter Plane' Has Wing Louvers" Popular Mechanics February 1959 page 139.
 

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Might these see a second life aboard Starship if perhaps made of the same materials as LOFTID?

Release one of these things with super-low wing-loading at Jupiter--or Mars even?

From Gemini:

While Mars has a very thin atmosphere (about 0.6% the pressure of Earth's) that makes aerobraking more difficult than on Earth or Venus, it is still thick enough to allow the technique. The key is that the upper atmosphere is much more extensive than Earth's, allowing spacecraft to use drag to adjust their orbits, though it is still not enough to slow large craft down for a complete landing, which requires additional methods like parachutes and rockets.
 

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