Aircraft that Never Were

[shadowcat1313]

one of the nicest looking designs, too bad it never really took off

 

The Boeing Variable Geometry 2707 SST

 

dates to the early sixties

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_2707

[shadowcat1313]

Re: Aircraft that Never Were

 

now a casualty of the concept that guided missiles would completely replace manned aircraft,

 

sadly, various morons in the canadian government ordered everything dealing with this project destroyed, supposedly due to the secrecy of various aspects of the project.

 

here is the CF-105 Avro Arrow

 

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

[shadowcat1313]

Re: Aircraft that Never Were

 

XB-70 Valkyrie

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XB-70

[st barbara]

Re: Aircraft that Never Were

 

now a casualty of the concept that guided missiles would completely replace manned aircraft,

 

sadly, various morons in the canadian government ordered everything dealing with this project destroyed, supposedly due to the secrecy of various aspects of the project.

 

here is the CF-105 Avro Arrow

 

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

It has been hinted by various people (maybe paranoid Canadian conspiracy theorists) on a couple of T V specials that I have seen that there was more than a bit of pressure exerted by the U S on the Canadian government to scrap the Avro Arrow project. Another "aircraft that never was" ( I think that it had a couple of flying prototypes) was the British T S R 2; low level, very fast, strike aircraft. I remember that Australia was considering it before they got the F111. I think that Australia went with the F111 because of its low speed capability and greater range in the end. I was not (and still AM not) a great fan of the F111, but many people, in Australia and elsewhere, think it is a great aircraft.

[shadowcat1313]

Re: Aircraft that Never Were

 

Tsr 2

[Evil Steve]

Re: Aircraft that Never Were

 

It has been hinted by various people (maybe paranoid Canadian conspiracy theorists) on a couple of T V specials that I have seen that there was more than a bit of pressure exerted by the U S on the Canadian government to scrap the Avro Arrow project. Another "aircraft that never was" ( I think that it had a couple of flying prototypes) was the British T S R 2; low level' date=' very fast, strike aircraft. I remember that Australia was considering it before they got the F111. I think that Australia went with the F111 because of its low speed capability and greater range in the end. I was not (and still AM not) a great fan of the F111, but many people, in Australia and elsewhere, think it is a great aircraft.[/quote']

 

As a Canadian, I can state, without reservation, that its been more than hinted at. Its taught in school whenever a teacher needs to explain American influence on Canada. As for the conspiracy theorists, I have no solid proof that I can locate without a lot more work than its worth. The best I can offer is that it was a top-rate plane, that was cancelled without clear reason.

[shadowcat1313]

Re: Aircraft that Never Were

 

the TSR-2 and the Avro Arrow are the best examples of the shortsightedness of politicians, the massive cost overruns didnt help either, both aircraft were well ahead of their time, probably too far ahead of their time.I am not a big fan of the F-111 either, I like the Tornado, which seems to be a much more capable aircraft in some ways.

 

another problem with the TSR-2 was the fact that a lot of the design process was done by a committee, without all the industry input it needed

[Toadmaster]

Re: Aircraft that Never Were

 

Bah, taking propellers off aircraft was a really bad idea.

 

The XB-70 and B-66 Hustler are favorites of mine despite being prop challenged.

 

I'm not really familar with the Avro Arrow, not a bad looking plane, kind of reminds me of the F102 Delta Dagger and F106 Delta Dart.

[shadowcat1313]

Re: Aircraft that Never Were

 

The Arrow was designed to replace the F-106 and F-102 IIRC

 

next up on my list

XB-49 Flying Wing

GO-229 Flying Wing

XF-85 Goblin

Hiller XV-1 Hover Jeep

Henkel 177

 

I debated doing some of the suicide missiles etc

Bachem Natter

Japanese Ohka piloted flying bomb

Fisler F-1 piloted V1

 

right off the bat I cant think of any other really interesting ones I am missing

[st barbara]

Re: Aircraft that Never Were

 

Flying wings ! Yeah ! Just whay I need for my pulp campaign. Actually, one of the future scenarios is designed around a very "pulp" aircraft concept. I can say no more as at least one of the players in the campaign posts on here !

[Mantis]

Re: Aircraft that Never Were

 

Heinkel 177

Er, this type was a real plane that saw operational service, so it's not keeping with the theme (not that it isn't an interesting aircraft, especially the anti-shipping versions).

 

So was the Ohka, technically, although I know of only one attempt to use it operationally, and that went poorly because all the mother ships were shot down before reaching a launch position. Color camera gun footage from the interception is often seen as "stock" footage in documentaries.

[shadowcat1313]

Re: Aircraft that Never Were

 

I was thinking of the Henkel jet bomber with 2 engines mounted on either side of the chin, and 2 more on the wings

[shadowcat1313]

Re: Aircraft that Never Were

 

wrong aircraft entirely, I was thinking of the JU-287

[Barton]

Re: Aircraft that Never Were

 

now a casualty of the concept that guided missiles would completely replace manned aircraft,

 

sadly, various morons in the canadian government ordered everything dealing with this project destroyed, supposedly due to the secrecy of various aspects of the project.

 

here is the CF-105 Avro Arrow

 

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

Actually according to the Military channel's Wings the jigs and machine tools were destroyed due to they were for the time the most advanced machine tools for titianium. Titianium is used as the skin for the SR71, still offically the world's fastest airplane [if Aurora does not exist].

I agree the Arrow should have gone into production and the US should have purchased it. It was WELL AHEAD OF ITS TIME!!!

The stated reason the special gave was the Arrow was VERY EXPENSIVE, and Boeing made a deal with the Canada's goverment for future aerospace jobs.

[Edsel]

Re: Aircraft that Never Were

 

The Horton HO IX / Gotha Go 229 Flying Wing Jet Bomber might be of interest. The first jet-powered flying wing design.

 

A quick Google search lists several pages with data on it.

[gewing]

Re: Aircraft that Never Were

 

XB-70 Valkyrie

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XB-70

 

 

Have you ever read about the missile they designed for the Valkyrie to defend itself with?

 

http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app4/pyewacket.html

 

 

If they even THOUGHT it could work then, maybe it should be revisited with modern technology?

[SSgt Baloo]

Re: Aircraft that Never Were

 

The XB-70 and B-66 Hustler* are favorites of mine despite being prop challenged.

 

* The B-66 was the Destroyer. The Hustler was the B-58. Which one do you mean?

 

Have you ever read about the missile they designed for the Valkyrie to defend itself with?

 

http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app4/pyewacket.html

 

If they even THOUGHT it could work then, maybe it should be revisited with modern technology?

 

I've heard of Pyewacket and up till now, I've never heard much more than "unmanned disk". As far as revisiting the technology, who can say that they haven't already? If its performance is that good, it might still be classified. After all, the most amazing thing about the F-117 wasn't that it was classified, but that it had been operational for years while everybody "knew" it was in development.

[SSgt Baloo]

Re: Aircraft that Never Were

 

(BTW, love the thread title.)

 

The aircraft designed by Vincent Burnelli, illusrated here did exist, but only a few of them. I always liked the concept but never heard of Burnelli until recently.

 

The heroes in one of my WW II campaigns used an all-wood flying wing propelled by ducted fans to get around. It wasn't a VTOL craft, but it could take off in about 40 feet.

 

I used to (and will again) draw aircraft that never existed. I even put together a small booklet for my nephew's son once, titled They Never Flew. Unfortunately I have since lost the original pictures. There are three that I scanned and posted on the web a few years ago. The links to them are at the bottom of this page.

 

The Speedmaster is a racing plane. The fuselage is also the housing for an enormous ducted fan. The Gladius/Mace is a fighter/bomber. It's based on the XP-59 (the propeller-driven one that preceded the P-59A Airacomet). The engine is a gas turbine driving twin contrarotating props at the back of the fuselage. The "Floater" was a 1/10th scale prototype of a plane intended to compete with the "Spruce Goose". It was all wood except for the motors and a few other bits. The final product would have looked like the prototype except for the relative size of the flight deck and the placement of the ducted fans. In the big plane, there would be eight ducted fans in the wing roots, driven by engines similar to that in the Gladiator/Mace (but much, much larger).