Orbital Rocket Launching From Flying Wing

[Barrington Bond]

Got this picture from Ebay - real or fictional design to go with the article?!

 

[Antonio]

Er...The title of the magazine is "Science Fiction" and I never heard about this design before so I'll vote for fictional

 

[starviking]

Er...The title of the magazine is "Science Fiction" and I never heard about this design before so I'll vote for fictional

Ah, but Willy Ley, the author of the article, was one of the early proponents of spaceflight, and a great populariser of the subject.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Ley

As for whether the design shown on the cover of the magazine matches that described in the article, I'd say there's a strong possibility it does. Galaxy was one of the main science fiction mags in the 50's, and the publications at that level prided themselves on scientific accuracy.

I would say the design is just the author's own. However, it's a good indication of the thinking of the time.

Starviking

 

[Michel Van]

Er...The title of the magazine is "Science Fiction" and I never heard about this design before so I'll vote for fictional

not quite
Galaxy Science Fiction magazine with science fact article
like willy Ley, its quit possible that Ley had made concept of a Seaplane/Shuttle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_Science_Fiction

 

[Antonio]

Dear Gentlemen,

Thank you very much for the links. I've discovered an apasionating personality (he was interested in both Biology and Aerospace tech)

About the possibility of this design to be real, I think the asnwer could be here:

http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/arch/findaids/ley/ley_sec_1.html

 

[Orionblamblam]

Got this picture from Ebay - real or fictional design to go with the article?!

I have a copy of that issue. There was nothing in the issue to back up the artwork... Ley had a generic article talking about satellites, and mentions means of satellite launch - including using jet aircraft and first stages for rockets - but that's pretty much it.