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Slight correction - the assembly aircraft didn't go to the targets. Notice the lead B-24 has no guns in the turrets or waist positions. They were a solution to the problem of a large number of aircraft assembling in in a small space in often overcast skies. It was common for bombers to join the wrong group during this confusion. Assembly aircraft were easy to spot and form up on. Once the squadron or group was assembled, the aircraft turned back.
Source: my pastor flew in an assembly aircraft after completing his 25 combat missions. Even then, his aircraft was hit by another aircraft during formation. Both were destroyed and he was one of only two men to survive the collision.
EDIT: If you're interested in the assembly aircraft, The Log of the Liberators by Steve Birdsall has a chapter on them with a number of photos. It's been out of print for years but used copies are available for as little as $5 from sellers on Amazon and Ex Libris.
Those machine gun and cannon installations on the B-25 started out as field modifications. They were largely the work of one man, Paul “Pappy” Gunn, one of the more colorful and aptly named characters in WWII. There’s a new biography of him available. I read an earlier biography of him many years ago. It was written by his commander, General Kinney. A general writing a biography of one of his subordinates is very rare but such was his respect for the man.
https://www.amazon.com/Indestructible-Rescue-Mission-Changed-Course/dp/0316339415. https://www.amazon.com/Pappy-Gunn-Americas-Legendary-Bomber-ebook/dp/B00K0Z2AQ2
That story (or a variation on it) was in Ben Rich's Skunkworks memoirs, yep.
The radar demonstrator's RCS was considerably smaller than a bird—more on the order of a large bird's eyeball. Birds sitting on the test stand definitely would be noticeable.
> Lightning
Amazing plane. The only plane to successfully intercept and SR-71 and a U-2. Short legs, but so much power.
>the government lost its mind and decided to kill British industry.
Indeed. It was heartbreaking reading <em>Empire of the Clouds</em>. So much promise, all thrown away. The Vulcan? British coworker of mine was at an airshow where they were flying that last privately operated Vulcan and a friend of his asked "wow since when has the RAF had that stealth bomber looking plane?" Had to tell him the bad news, that not only was it 50 years old, but it was long gone from service...
There is a book called Secret Jets of the Third Reich which I’ve been trying to get my hands on for ages and this aircraft is actually on the cover.
https://www.amazon.com/Luftwaffe-Secret-Jets-Third-Reich-ebook/dp/B016DDWN7U
The idea is the wing should be close enough to the pilot's eye level that the area of forward sky blanked out is minimal. Cutout over cockpit helps, too. [Moraine-Saulnier(https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Morane-Saulnier+Parasol&FORM=RESTAB) produced a line of parasol fighters for this reason.
We’re just talking about closed prandtl wing aircraft, right? They’ve been proposed, especially for passenger jets and I hope we get some test crafts soon.
By traditional torsion links do you mean this? If so, it’s worth looking at other 1930/40s designs. DC3/C47, Avro Lancaster, DH Mosquito spring to mind. For a more modern aircraft the A4 Skyhawk had a clever spline system that is worth researching. Trailing links are technically different, but use a similar scissor type action so might not be what your assessment is looking for.
Even simpler though is just a sprung steel or a bungee type undercarriage like a piper cub or a Cessna 180
The artwork is from a book by Erik Simonsen, Project Terminated: Famous Military Aircraft Cancellations of the Cold War and What Might Have Been.
Simonsen is the author and artist. The book is full of beautiful artwork and interesting stories. Chapter 3 is about the Rapier.
Here's a link to the book on Amazon.
[Project Terminated, Erik Simonsen](https://www.amazon.com/Project-Terminated-Military-Aircraft-Cancellations/dp/0859791734/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=)
Also fun fact; canard is French for duck, and Viggen in Swedish translates both to Thunderbolt and widgeon, or tufted duck. So of all the bird references, Falcon, Eagle, Raptor .... they chose Tufted Duck .... or maybe they were going for Thunderbolt.
There is a fantastic book that shows all the proposed features and the competitors proposals..https://www.amazon.com/Fighters-Thirty-Nine-Convair-Charger-Aircraft/dp/0942612396/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=convair+model+48&qid=1609935033&sr=8-1
Also, anyone on this sub have any other book recommendations?
Yeah, disappointing given that the source material was written by one the best authors I know...
If anyone hasn't read Ben Rich's book Skunk Works they should probably do so. Great book, and it goes in detail on the conception and development of this plane (as well as others!)
Back at home, there is a rather battered copy of this book in my... ahem... "reference" library (LOL). Half of the pages have water damage, courtesy of my cat knocking it into the toilet.
Yes, just water damage.
The back cover also appears to have been attacked by some foul hellbeast. Also the cat, chewing on it when the front cover was in the toilet.
If I were home, I'd take a picture if the book. I'd also take a picture of the cat, except it decided that it didn't like <em>Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War</em>, which weighs about 75 pounds. If you attempted to stop a M1 Abrams by throwing yourself under the treads as it was going 39mph, the result would be roughly the same.
I'm joking, the cat/book interface caused no lasting harm to either participant.
I should go back to my hardcover copy of Secret secret projects: Bombers. My wife must have stored it in some.... of course, secret place.
>Vickers Wellington DWI (Directional Wireless Installation) anti-magnetic mine aircraft
I had a book in german with pictures of detonation from the german JU-52 versions (called "Mausi" little mouse), but unfortunately I dont have that book anymore.
It's just a username, has nothing to do with the topic at hand.
Those two beams do look really similar... Although mine would most certainly not be (that) visible from so far up. The width of the beams are quite incomparable.
Bill bridgeman, one of the test pilots for this plane, wrote a pretty good book about it: "The Lonely Sky"
There are many people in Japan who miss the TSR-2, and a derivative of the TSR-2 appeared in an anime. A plastic model of it was also released.
There is almost no information about the Tu-444 since the official website was taken down.
Crew: 2 pilots, 1 flight attendant * Capacity: 6-10 * Length: 36 m (118 ft 1 in) * Wingspan: 16.2 m (53 ft 1 in) * Height: 6.51 m (21 ft 4 in) * Wing area: 136 m² (1,460 ft²) * Empty weight: 19,300 kg (42,550 lb) * Max takeoff weight: 41,000 kg (90,400 lb) * Powerplant: 2× NPO Saturn AL-32M turbofan, 95 kN (21,400 lbf) each
Performance
* Cruise speed: Mach 2, 2,125 km/h (1,320 mph) * Range: 7,500 km (4,660 mi) * Wing loading: 300 kg/m² (29 lb/ft²) * Thrust/weight: 0.48
There's a book about this project, The Fullness of Wings: The Making of a New Daedalus by Gary Dorsey
I read it when it was new. IIRC the plane was heavy in comparison to the Macready aircraft, and the project was a real struggle.
Sorry - didn't mean to be a dick. One of those model books would be a good start. If you can find it - this one is great. Naval Fighters #93
Slightly off topic, but Marshall Harrison’s A Lonely Kind of War — his memoirs of flying the OV-10 Bronco in a forward air controller role over Vietnam and Laos — is a fantastic read.
This might be it!:
This is from the following small book:
<em>"Modern Combat Aircraft"</em> by Jeff Daniels, ISBN 9780681404304
This is a publication put out by Longmeadow Press, as part of their "Concise Color Series". The paperback book measures only 3.5 x 4.75 x 0.5 inches, so quite close to what you remember!
This might be a better fit:
<em>"Pocket Guide to Military Aircraft and the World's Airforces"</em> - sample pages
These two pages appear in the book:
<em>"The Pocket Guide to Military Aircraft and the World's Air Forces"</em> by David Donald, IBSN 9780681031852
Although the date and the size of the book don't fit in with your details, perhaps the visual material had also appeared in other publications, including the ones you remember. Hmm.
I picked this book up on a whim and, although it's not perfect historical fiction by any stretch, I was pretty engaged and enjoyed the part about the German spaceplanes and possible space station: https://www.amazon.com/My-Tank-Fight-Zack-Parsons/dp/0806527587
> Old enough to become public domain?
Basically yes. You can buy the pilot's notes on Amazon.
It's sometimes surprising what you can find out there. Here is the inlet section from the SR-71 pilot's notes.
Cussler novels are always a riot, but Atlantis Found is one of my absolute favourites.
Canadian Amazon link if you're interested: https://www.amazon.ca/Atlantis-Found-Dirk-Novel-Adventure-ebook/dp/B001JTPXTY/
Without spoiling too much, it's about a marine engineer named Dirk Pitt (you might know him from the movie Sahara, which was based on the book of the same name) who tries to unravel the mystery of weird skulls and ruins. Also big baddies. And the Skycar. And many other awesome things.
The MiG-21 obviously has a long and varied history, and has a fuckload of weird and obscure variants. I remember reading an excellent book all about the MiG-21 in a library years ago, full of photos and information that I think isn't available online. I recently thought it would be nice to buy it and I looked it up on Amazon ....
The thing is currently $3000 new. Yeah. Wow.