US Aviation Secret Projects by Scott Lowther

[Dan Sharp]

Volume 4 now almost ready to go to press, from forum member Scott Lowther, aka @Orionblamblam:



When Britain and France announced in 1962 that they would be working together on the Concorde supersonic airliner, the US was stunned. America’s best aviation engineers had been working on designs for exactly this type of cutting-edge high-speed passenger aircraft for more than a decade and they weren’t about to let some European upstart steal their thunder.
Therefore, President John F. Kennedy launched the National Supersonic Transport Program in 1963 to develop an all-American airliner able to fly at up to Mach 3.

This drew upon and resulted in some of the most audacious, ambitious and technologically advanced aircraft designs ever conceived. Many remarkable proposals were drafted, ranging from twisted and almost organic-looking oddities to brutally angular speed machines, some utilising the forms of existing supersonic military aircraft, others being entirely and stunningly novel.

As these designs were studied, refined and tested, practical shapes and configurations took centre stage – such as Lockheed’s elegant L-2000 and Boeing’s swing-wing Model 733. The latter would emerge as the winner, losing its swing and becoming the Boeing 2707 – only for the whole programme to come crashing down amid worries about sonic booms and commercial viability.

Dozens of these incredible designs, many of them previously unknown, are illustrated in US Aviation Secret Projects 4: America’s Concorde, with aerospace engineer Scott Lowther charting the dizzying rise and spectacular fall of the aircraft meant to transport America into a high-tech age of streamlined supersonic commercial flight.

132 pages
£9.99

https://shop.kelsey.co.uk/product/us-aviation-secret-projects-4-americas-concorde
The previous three are:

 

[Landor742]

Will there be a US distributor for ease of shipping? Looking forward to this!

 

[publiusr]

I tried to order the B-52 offering from Books-A-Million, and a full year later they said it didn't go through.
I can't have anything mailed to my house due to thieving kids---

 

[fightingirish]

Hello everyone , I’ve decided not to buy the updated issues 2 and 3 of the B-47 and B-52 in physical bookazine form, as I already own the original hardcover book. However, you can access those two issues via digital newsstand applications such as Readly. It is possible that the upcoming Issue 4 concerning US SSTs will also be offered in a digital format, should the physical bookazine be unavailable for delivery to your country.

 

[Landor742]

Hello everyone , I’ve decided not to buy the updated issues 2 and 3 of the B-47 and B-52 in physical bookazine form, as I already own the original hardcover book. However, you can access those two issues via digital newsstand applications such as Readly. It is possible that the upcoming Issue 4 concerning US SSTs will also be offered in a digital format, should the physical bookazine be unavailable for delivery to your country.

Appreciate that. I’m an old school reader, need a hard copy to dig in!
I’ll source it globally if that’s what it takes

 

[gatoraptor]

The mockup for the Boeing 2707 was displayed at a small museum in Kissimmee, Florida for a number of years after the program was cancelled.

 

[Landor742]

The mockup for the Boeing 2707 was displayed at a small museum in Kissimmee, Florida for a number of years after the program was cancelled.

I’d give anything to walk around it. For a Time Machine…
The 2707 and L-2000 have lived in my head for many years. Nice to see these programmes getting some attention.

 

[FighterJock]

I still wonder to this day what would have happened had Concorde had more competition and the US equivalent had entered service.

 

[fightingirish]

Hey folks, here an appetizer from Scott Lowther aka @Orionblamblam.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2033322489774735706

View: https://x.com/i/status/2033322489774735706

@Landor742:
He also wrote in another tweet.

[...]It will eventually show up on Amazon and such but the history has been that it takes a *real* long time to do so.[...]

 

[FighterJock]

Looking forward to it Fighting Irish.

 

[gatoraptor]

I’d give anything to walk around it. For a Time Machine…
The 2707 and L-2000 have lived in my head for many years. Nice to see these programmes getting some attention.

I've been told the the 2707 mockup is now at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, CA.

 

[Landor742]

I've been told the the 2707 mockup is now at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, CA.

It was- last I knew it was transferred to Boeings Museum of flight in Seattle. I believe only the nose was salvaged after being disassembled in Florida.

 

[gatoraptor]

It was- last I knew it was transferred to Boeings Museum of flight in Seattle. I believe only the nose was salvaged after being disassembled in Florida.

Yeah, they put the nose on the OUTSIDE of the building since it wouldn't fit inside!

 

[Landor742]

I would love to see a pic of the 2707 while the building was a church, any pics exist?

 

[fightingirish]

[...] However, you can access those two issues via digital newsstand applications such as Readly. It is possible that the upcoming Issue 4 concerning US SSTs will also be offered in a digital format, should the physical bookazine be unavailable for delivery to your country.

For your information, I can confirm that this bookazine is now accessible on Readly.

 

[sgeorges4]

Hello, already grabbed it since I got the revell boeing SST to build (pan am from the 60')

 

[elmayerle]

I still wonder to this day what would have happened had Concorde had more competition and the US equivalent had entered service.

I know it was there in 1973, along with an example of the P&W engine that competed to power it.

 

[Landor742]

Wonderful SST publication Scott. I’d take a magazine that’s just chock full of any 2707 and L-2000 stuff you have.

 

[elmayerle]

Hello everyone , I’ve decided not to buy the updated issues 2 and 3 of the B-47 and B-52 in physical bookazine form, as I already own the original hardcover book. However, you can access those two issues via digital newsstand applications such as Readly. It is possible that the upcoming Issue 4 concerning US SSTs will also be offered in a digital format, should the physical bookazine be unavailable for delivery to your country.

I've got the hardback book, but I've bought both softback books. I've been pushing the B-52 book when such is applicable.

 

[elmayerle]

My copy of the SST book arrived, from the publisher, yesterday (for the record, I'm in Fort Worth, TX), and it's a superb piece of work. I really appreciate all teh drawing work Scott has put in and I'm tempted to purchase a second copy if/when it hits Barnes & Noble. It's definitely going to get consulted often andScott has produced quite useful drawings of several proposals I've been considering trying to model.

 

[Landor742]

My copy of the SST book arrived, from the publisher, yesterday (for the record, I'm in Fort Worth, TX), and it's a superb piece of work. I really appreciate all teh drawing work Scott has put in and I'm tempted to purchase a second copy if/when it hits Barnes & Noble. It's definitely going to get consulted often andScott has produced quite useful drawings of several proposals I've been considering trying to model.

Yep it’s superb. I’d love an expanded edition with more drawings, photos, etc.

There’s not nearly enough US SST material out there!

 

[uk 75]

I have two copies of this book since I am a fan of the stillborn US SSTs but also because whenever Mr Lowther's works appear in my local newsagents formerly known as Smiths I buy them eagerly.

The drawings and accompanying little people plus bonus craft for scale are works of art and great fun. Thank you from Oxford.

 

[Owens Z]

My copy of the SST book arrived, from the publisher, yesterday (for the record, I'm in Fort Worth, TX), and it's a superb piece of work. I really appreciate all teh drawing work Scott has put in and I'm tempted to purchase a second copy if/when it hits Barnes & Noble. It's definitely going to get consulted often andScott has produced quite useful drawings of several proposals I've been considering trying to model.

I have two copies of this book since I am a fan of the stillborn US SSTs but also because whenever Mr Lowther's works appear in my local newsagents formerly known as Smiths I buy them eagerly. The drawings and accompanying little people plus bonus craft for scale are works of art and great fun. Thank you from Oxford.

I purchased a copy of Scott Lowther's new bookazine US Aviation Secret Projects: America's Concorde at my local Barnes & Noble last week. As others have noted here, it's excellent: well researched, well written, with scale line drawings by the author. This bookazine's content ends with the cancellation of the American SST program in 1971, so it doesn't include the further NASA studies of the 1980's and 90's that I had read about in Aviation Week and Space Technology and elsewhere, which mostly looked similar to Boeing's final 2707-300 design, until NASA discontinued such studies in 1999. Mr Lowther ends his text with "But those are for another book". Keep 'em coming!

Recommended.

 

[GeorgeA]

Just arrived on Ye Olde Cape Cod via tramp steamer. Well worth the wait.

 

[foiling]

I am very keen to buy this book, but have not yet found a seller, especially one that will post to South Africa. (Our local postal service is abysmal - books can take an extra 6 months to arrive, which leaves one wondering where it is and if it has perhaps been stolen. Furthermore, postage from the USA is slow & very expensive).

 

[Adventurer104]

Scott, whats next? Looking forward to your next one!

 

[foiling]

I am very keen to buy this book, but have not yet found a seller, especially one that will post to South Africa. (Our local postal service is abysmal - books can take an extra 6 months to arrive, which leaves one wondering where it is and if it has perhaps been stolen. Furthermore, postage from the USA is slow & very expensive).

I have found a copy & ordered it. The book is about £10, the postage is about £30! Okay that is airmail, but it has already arrived in South Africa, but heaven alone knows how long they will keep it before they work out how much to tax me, and when to notify me that i can collect it.

 

[foiling]

I have found a copy & ordered it. The book is about £10, the postage is about £30! Okay that is airmail, but it has already arrived in South Africa, but heaven alone knows how long they will keep it before they work out how much to tax me, and when to notify me that i can collect it.

My copy finally arrived yesterday! It was posted airmail, and cost me an extra £30! But was held up by customs for ages. I haven't opened the parcel yet; waiting for the right moment.