Weird planes
- Thread starter HAL9000
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DownwardDog
Riding a Brompton with a power meter.
Ex-WW2 C-47B that was used as the radar testbed for the Nimrod MRA.4 project.It also had a massive APU and its attendant fuel tank built into the fuselage to provide sufficient electrical power.
They would probably have been better off leaving the radar on the Dakota and using that for maritime patrol.
They would probably have been better off leaving the radar on the Dakota and using that for maritime patrol.
DownwardDog
Riding a Brompton with a power meter.
HP.115. RAE deathtrap dreamed up to research narrow deltas. It did lead to some breakthroughs on configurations that hit VZRC (zero rate of climb speed) before VS (stall speed) which was a crucial contribution to the design of Concorde.
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
That engine looks like something they borrowed off a V-1HP.115. RAE deathtrap dreamed up to research narrow deltas. It did lead to some breakthroughs on configurations that hit VZRC (zero rate of climb speed) before VS (stall speed) which was a crucial contribution to the design of Concorde.
pogofish
Testicle Hairstyle
Much of the science behind that plane was based on the work of "borrowed" Germans TBH. Notably Dietrich Küchemann, who had spent the years since about 1930 working under the aerodynamicist and Nazi "ambassador" Ludwig Prandtl - who unequivocally blamed England for causing WW2!
Another curosity about the P.115 was that amongst the test pilots selected to fly it was one Neil Armstrong from the US. However, NASA refused permission to fly, so he didn't get a chance until after he'd done his Astronaut duties.
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nuffsaid
But this goes up to 11
2hats
Dust.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
DownwardDog
Riding a Brompton with a power meter.
The Swedish (and maybe the Austrian, I forget) air force did this with the SK60D trainer by taking the ejection seats out and replacing them with four GA seats.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
Yeah it’s the XL version which will fly for the first time in August. I think they designed the face on to it, quite cute in its own way.
DownwardDog
Riding a Brompton with a power meter.
Another ridiculous looking mockup of an aircraft that will never be produced, let alone fly, for the salving of nationalist sentiment and distraction from internal woes. Only this time, it's not Iran!
This is honestly one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen perpetrated by the MoD/BAE.
This is honestly one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen perpetrated by the MoD/BAE.
A380
How do I change this 'custom title' thing then?
The Tempest- fitted for, but not with, existence.
kebabking
Not a Girly Swot, but I like them....
its the starting point for the currently on-going UK-Japan conversation about producing a 6th gen (sorry..) aircraft for the 2035/40 timeline - its quite possible/probable that it will end up being consumed in something else, quite possibly something American, but thats what its designed for (in project terms). the obvious example of which being the UK work on both V/STOL and Low Observable which was the UK ticket into the deepest depths of the JSF/F-35 programme - being the only Tier 1 partner wasn't just about stumping up development money, it was about having experience and tech that was wanted, the physical manifestation of which (ish) was the BAE Replica, what was part of the Future Offensive Air System project, this development work was traded in with the US for a Teir 1 place on what became the JSF/F-35.
no is actually suggesting that the UK is going to build, on its own, a 6th gen LO air dominance fighter and buy 100 of them - not least because they'd touch £1bn a copy - whats being suggested is that dome development work is being done, informed by the UK experience of working on the F-35 build, to offer to other interested parties (Japan, probably the US, possibly, but less likely France, and Sweden) to see what the reaction is.
no is actually suggesting that the UK is going to build, on its own, a 6th gen LO air dominance fighter and buy 100 of them - not least because they'd touch £1bn a copy - whats being suggested is that dome development work is being done, informed by the UK experience of working on the F-35 build, to offer to other interested parties (Japan, probably the US, possibly, but less likely France, and Sweden) to see what the reaction is.
DownwardDog
Riding a Brompton with a power meter.
That thing behind Alan Partridge is one of the 90s vintage Replica mockups from the RCS study. It's been given a Halfords rattle can paint job and been put on a set of Tornado landing gear. It's an utterly laughable PR stunt. The FOD guards are a nice touch.
Japan hasn't acquired anything but a US combat aircraft for 75 years. The idea that they are going to weaken their most important military and strategic partnership to get in on the Airfix led Tempest consortium isn't credible.
A380
How do I change this 'custom title' thing then?
agricola
a genuine importer of owls
... and thats a high standard of ridiculous things
T & P
|-o-| (-o-) |-o-|
That looks like a shameless copy of a plane in a recent blockbuster sci-fi. Which one was it? Pacific Rim? The Independence Day sequel? I definitely have seen something very similar in the silver screen.
Idris2002
canadian girlfriend
While you're here lads. . . what protocols are involved in future planning in this area? I mean, apart from Senator Hiram Q. Butterworth making sure that the good ol' boys get their pork barrel. When bureaucrats, engineers, etc., try to look into the future in cases like this what exactly do they do? SWOT tests? Something else? What?
Crispy
The following psytrance is baṉned: All
DownwardDog
Riding a Brompton with a power meter.
They aren't really similar as a) the YF-23 had a trapezoidal wing and the Tempest has a cranked arrow and b) the YF-23 was a real aircraft.
The YF-23 outperformed the YF-22 in parts the ATF fly offs but the DoD selected the F-22 as they felt Lockmart were less like to make an expensive fuck up of the program management than Northrop/McDD.
The YF-23 outperformed the YF-22 in parts the ATF fly offs but the DoD selected the F-22 as they felt Lockmart were less like to make an expensive fuck up of the program management than Northrop/McDD.
Idris2002
canadian girlfriend
DownwardDog, was this ever a feasible proposition, or just some RR engineer getting high on the kerosene fumes?
Crispy
The following psytrance is baṉned: All
All sorts of crazy shit from the 60s like that. Here's a research paper on the topic (dated 4 years later than that image):
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/655459.pdf
Hypersonic combustion engines are really hard. You have to inject, mix and ignite the fuel/air in the <1 millisecond it takes to pass through the engine. This idea would do all the combustion in the sub-sonic shockwave "shadow" of the aircraft. The shockwave would then form one side of a "virtual nozzle" (the other half being the underside of the aircraft).
It's not an outrageous idea. It might be buildable.
They've cracked hypersonic combustion now though:
NASA X-43 - Wikipedia
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/655459.pdf
Hypersonic combustion engines are really hard. You have to inject, mix and ignite the fuel/air in the <1 millisecond it takes to pass through the engine. This idea would do all the combustion in the sub-sonic shockwave "shadow" of the aircraft. The shockwave would then form one side of a "virtual nozzle" (the other half being the underside of the aircraft).
It's not an outrageous idea. It might be buildable.
They've cracked hypersonic combustion now though:
NASA X-43 - Wikipedia
DownwardDog
Riding a Brompton with a power meter.
DownwardDog, was this ever a feasible proposition, or just some RR engineer getting high on the kerosene fumes?
I don't know. I suspect that that it would not have been possible to find a compromise between between an airframe design that would form an effective external engine and one that could be safely flown to M5+.
It's interesting that two years before this chiaroscuro fantasy was produced Maj. Pete Knight had actually flown a real aircraft to M6.7 (4,500mph!).
Idris2002
canadian girlfriend
StoneRoad
heckling from the back!
fyi UnderAnOpenSky
Not a plane, but a car ...
Rally car goes flying down zip wire
nicely cut clips !
which possibly explains something I heard on the Ffestiniog grapevine recently.
Not a plane, but a car ...
Rally car goes flying down zip wire
nicely cut clips !
which possibly explains something I heard on the Ffestiniog grapevine recently.
DownwardDog
Riding a Brompton with a power meter.
For the most of the post WW2 period the RAF and the Air Ministry would come up with either an Operational (OR) or Exprimental (ER) Requirement. This would then be turned into a specification against which companies could propose designs. This all changed after various governments rationalised and restructured the companies out of existence. From that point multinational coalitions were the only possible to way to produce combat aircraft. Aircraft produced from these programs are still notionally evaluated against an RAF requirement but whether or not it actually does what the service needs comes a long way down the list of priorities after political considerations such as work share.
The British government is very fond of long running programs and studies which are often renamed, merged and cancelled across a decades without ever actually producing anything. Future Offensive Air (FOA) started in the early 90s to produce a Tornado replacement. It became Future Offensive Air System (FOAS) then Deep and Persistent Offensive Capability (DPOC) then Future Combat System (FCS) before being cancelled in 2015 without producing anything other than existential despair for everyone involved in it.
The US still, more or less, uses the Cold War model. The USAF/USN produce a requirement and the DoD turns into a specification against which companies can propose aircraft. Most of the pork barrelling happens after award with suppliers. They are also willing to spend a lot of money on speculative projects via DARPA, Skunkworks, Phantom Works, etc. that may or may not turn into anything useful.
The reason why the Tempest lash up is such a joke is that it masquerades as a complete aircraft where no such requirements or specifications have been yet been decided. The Typhoon project took more than 10 years to end up with the final airframe and systems design from the start of the program. Tempest is a Potemkin project designed for the consumption of the Mail Online comments section.
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