Laminar Flow Control Aircraft Project of 1964 to ID

[hesham]

From, Revista de Aeronautica y Astronautica 1964,

This drawing shows a promising airplane shape for multiple uses. It
uses the laminar current control system to reduce drag. Consequently,
its wing area is 50% larger and its engine power in 25 hp per 100 smaller
than those of a “conventional” airplane of the same size. In the event that
The drawing polishes, its power is obtained by five "cruise-fan" engines, of
the type proposed by General Electric. These engines give the aircraft a
maximum cruising speed of about 100 meshes more than with propellers,
approximately 500 m. p. h., but reduce autonomy and flight duration.

Smaller diameter turbofans, similar to those currently in service, they would
increase the speed to 500 m. p. h. or maybe more, but with greater sacrifice
of autonomy and flight duration. Such a "cruise-fan" plane would probably
be able to stay in the air for three days with a respectable military payload
and with three crews taking turns: four hours of service, eight hours off.

Who can ID the aircraft,and I suspect if we discussed it before,it had a familiar
shape,I could be wrong,but I use the search and find nothing ?!.

 

[fortrena]

The mention of laminar flow control and cruise fan engines could indicate a link with the CX-X heavy transport aircraft program of the U.S. Air Force - the program which led to the development of the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy.

 

[hesham]

The mention of laminar flow control and cruise fan engines could indicate a link with the CX-X heavy transport aircraft program of the U.S. Air Force - the program which led to the development of the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy.

That's weird dear Fortrena,what's the relationship between them ?.

 

[fortrena]

References to the origins of the Galaxy refer to cruise fan engines, and the possibility of using some sort of laminar flow control. Given that, the year (1964) and the apparent size of the aircraft in the drawing, the possibility that this aircraft was a CX-X concept seemed like a plausible option.

 

[fortrena]

A supplement of info if I may.

The article in the June 1964 issue of Revista de Aeronautica y Astronautica appears to be a (word for word?) translation of an article published in the October 1963 issue of Air Force and Space Digest, "The coming revolution in jet propulsion" by J.S. Butz, Jr.

Given the date of the article, and the presence in the Spanish article (and the American one?) of a drawing of a very large six-engine aircraft, a configuration under consideration up to 1962, or 1963, it looks as if the drawing at the top of this page is linked in some way to the program which gave birth to the Galaxy.

Interestingly, the aircraft in that drawing appears to be fitted with aft fan-type turbofan engines.

 

[fortrena]

According to the Air Force and Space Digest article, in 1963, General Electric was working on a so-called cruise-fan engine whose 5-foot fan was driven by a J85 turbojet engine mounted at the top of the engine nacelle. Our mystery plane had five of these - four on the wings and one in the tail.

A later version, the production version perhaps, seemingly had an 80-in diameter fan driven by a gas generator derived from a J79 turbojet engine.

General Electric went on to win the contract to power the Galaxy with the more conventional if still revolutionary TF39 turbofan engine - the first high power and high bypass ratio jet engine to go into production.