US Supersonic Bomber Projects by Scott Lowther

robunos said:
FighterJock said:
robunos said:
My copy arrived today . . .


cheers,
Robin.View attachment 685760
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Any ideas as to when WHSmiths will be getting copies delivered? As that will be how I will be getting my copy.
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I wouldn't have a clue, I don't even have a WH Smiths anywhere near me, any more . . .

cheers,
Robin.
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That’s sad, I used to have a local WH Smith’s near to where I live but it was shut two years ago, which means the nearest is in Edinburgh.
 
My copy arrived today and is a gorgeous piece of work. Any chance of a limited run hardback version?

Skimming did remind me of something, 50 years ago, the Texas A&M 8'xx10' low speed wind tunnel, located at Easterwood Field - just west from the campus, had Boeing's TFX wind tunnel models stored down on the lower level. I have no idea if they are still there. I worked there as a student assistant and got to watch the shuttle evolve to the shape that finally flew. The fan driving the wind tunnel is a cropped Curtiss-Electric propellor of the type fitted to Silverplate, et al. B-29's.
 
elmayerle said:
My copy arrived today and is a gorgeous piece of work.
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Thanks! Tell yer friends. Better yet, buy a few hundred copies for your friends. You know, Xmas and such.

elmayerle said:
Any chance of a limited run hardback version?
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Unlikely. The economics does not support that at current sales rates, costs, Viruses Of Unspecified Origins and supply chain issues. I *suppose* a few years down the line I might take a stab at a crowdfunded sort of project; I'm considering such for Volume 3, which the publishers have passed on ("Volume Three: Fricken' Space Bombers"). Doing it on my own would of course have to be contingent upon not pissing off the current publisher...
 
I can understand that. Any information on a proposed J75-powered B-58? The more powerful engines would allow a larger, airframe.
 
I acquired a copy in Hasda be Asda yesterday, a very impressive piece of kit and while I have only scanned through so far am expecting a repeat of a good read/experience.
 
FYI... finally getting confirmation that a boxload of these will be shipped to me in the near future. If you would like a signed, dated and numbered copy with a bonus 18X24 CAD diagram, for the low low price of $20 plus postage, let me know:
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Postage in the US will be reasonable. Postage outside the US is... unreasonable. Unreasonably unreasonable.

I will also have a small number of "SR-71" and "B-47/B-52" signed and dated with bonus 18X24 diagrams. Let me know if interested in those.
 
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Orionblamblam said:
A box of 'em finally arrived here, after luxuriating in the New York customs office for nearly two weeks. If you are interested in signed, numbered, dated copies with two 18X24 prints, for $20 plus media mail postage, let me know.
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Received my signed copy and prints on Friday. THe prints are beautiful. Any chance of a volume on the LRI-X competition? it would make a nice companion to their F.155 book.
 
My copy came from eBay but have so far not seen any in W H Smith.

Another excellent volume in the form we now all know and recognise.

AMSA and the run up to B1 is covered with mainly designs we know from this site. There were so many sketch and model designs for this project that no volume can hope to cover them but we do have an excellent thread here.
 
B-1B drawing page 133 - what's the T-22 missile? Is that supposed to be an air-launched version of Vought's Assault Breaker missile?
 
Looks highly interesting, by the way what is the aircraft design in the post? Cannot wait for it's release. :cool:
 
Just got my grubby little mitts on volume 2, the cover art alone is worth the price of admission! I'm getting all itchy to carve myself a big lobby model of that D188.I have to say I like the bookazine format, great bang for the buck.Now I have to go find volume 1.
 
That is one weird looking fighter and it looks like it is a Skunk Works design as well, any ideas as to when it was designed?
 
FighterJock said:
That is one weird looking fighter and it looks like it is a Skunk Works design as well, any ideas as to when it was designed?
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It is a Lockheed project (RIVET) from 1988, that Dan Raymer worked on while he was a Lockheed in late 1980s.
overscan (PaulMM) said:
I believe its a Lockheed project (RIVET) that Dan Raymer worked on while he was a Lockheed. The idea was to install the engine backwards, which would put the exhaust in a more favourable position for single engine vectoring.
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Sources:

Aircraft & Spacecraft Conceptual Design Drawings & Pictures

Conceptual design drawings and pictures of aircraft and spacecraft design concepts
www.aircraftdesign.com
 
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FighterJock said:
That is one weird looking fighter and it looks like it is a Skunk Works design as well, any ideas as to when it was designed?
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It's Dan Raymer's RIVET from c.1988. He was briefly (1987-90) Director of Advanced Design at LM and had a senior role at the Skunk Works as well, but I'm not sure how much of this design was a real Skunk Works product or just Raymer's own idea.
 
TomS said:
An idea Raymer brought with him from Aerojet?
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No. It sprang up while working at Lockheed on some more conventional STOVL concepts and tests showed that it worked surprisingly well, but it was eventually killed by the combo of "giggle factor" and "Not Invented By Skunk Works."
 
Or killed of by Skunk Works insider knowledge of the F-117A perhaps?
 
Orionblamblam said:
No. It sprang up while working at Lockheed on some more conventional STOVL concepts and tests showed that it worked surprisingly well, but it was eventually killed by the combo of "giggle factor" and "Not Invented By Skunk Works."
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Cool, thank you.

I confess I had the giggles a bit too, but looking closer at the layout, it actually makes sense. It hides the compressor face better than pretty much any other design I can imagine, and puts the exhausts near CG without insanely long hot ducts. I expect there might be some issues getting a clean flow into the compressor face with that 180-degree bend in the inlet duct, but other LO ducts aren't exactly simple in that regard anyway.
 
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Just re-read Steve Pace's book Projects of Skunk Works and RIVET gets a mention, it predates the CALF/JAST/AVSTOL then eventually the JSF programs. And it leads the ATF/F-22 design studies.
 
FighterJock said:
Just re-read Steve Pace's book Projects of Skunk Works and RIVET gets a mention, it predates the CALF/JAST/AVSTOL then eventually the JSF programs. And it leads the ATF/F-22 design studies.
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It pleases me that I'll be able to do better on telling the story of RIVET. It hadn't been an initial goal of the project... but here we are.
 

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