Aeronautical Insanity: switching to secondary tolerances

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Aeronautical Insanity: switching to secondary tolerances

Some Guy From NY: Dec 11, 2007

here is this little beauty. the XB-42 Mixmaster.

from Wiki

quote:

The Douglas XB-42 Mixmaster was an experimental bomber aircraft, designed for a high top speed. The unconventional approach was to mount the two engines within the fuselage driving a pair of contra-rotating propellers mounted at the tail, leaving the wing and fuselage clean and free of aerodynamics-reducing protrusions. Two prototype aircraft were built, but the end of World War II changed priorities and the advent of the jet engine gave an alternative way toward achieving high speed.

The aircraft mounted a pair of Allison V-1710-125 liquid-cooled V-12 engines behind the crew's cabin, each driving one of the twin propellers. Air intakes were in the wing leading edge.

The first XB-42 prototype flew on 6 May 1944. Performance was excellent, being basically as described in the original proposal; as fast or faster than the de Havilland Mosquito but with defensive armament and twice the bombload.

The XB-42 set a speed record of 433.6 mph (697.8 km/h) from Long Beach, California to Washington DC in December 1944 (c. 2,300 miles).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XB-42_Mixmaster

A unique aircraft which may have played a big role in WWII had it been designed earlier and entered production.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2010 02:28

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 3, 2024 05:58

Some Guy From NY: Dec 11, 2007

Tetraptous posted:

Click here for the full 800x504 image.
Sikorsky S-67 Blackhawk, the lesserknown Sikorsky Blackhawk

I love the Sikorskiy Blackhawk. It seems like an amazing helicopter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iniXBYFLybs

^a promotional film for the helicopter complete with 70's porn music. They should STILL build this helicopter. They cancelled the program after the prototype crashed killing the test pilot.

One of my other favorite aircraft is the B-47 Stratojet.

wiki:

quote:

The B-47 looked unlike any contemporary bomber, described by some observers as a "sleek, beautiful outcome that was highly advanced".[2] The 35� swept wings were shoulder-mounted, with the twin inboard turbojet engines mounted in very neat pods, and the outboard engines tacked under the wings short of the wingtips. With the exception of a change from the shoulder-mounted wing configuration to being under the fuselage, most future airliners would use a similar configuration, with the engines mounted in under-wing pylons.

Basically all future jets followed the B-47's design of swept wings and engines mounted in pods under the wings. It is also a beautiful aircraft in my opinion. It is a bomber that looks like a fighter jet with a canopy rather than a side by side configuration.

The B-47 in the foreground, B-52 center, and the B-36 "Peacemaker" which was a ridiculously large piston driven aircraft before the B-47 came along.

edit: Ah hell, here is some info on the B-36.

size comparison next to a B-29, the same type of plane which dropped the A-bombs on Japan:

quote:

The B-36 took shape as an aircraft of immense proportions,[17] two-thirds longer than the previous "superbomber", the B-29. The wingspan and tail height of the B-36 exceeded those of the Antonov An-22, the largest ever mass-produced propeller-driven aircraft. Only with the advent of the Boeing 747 and the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, both designed two decades later, did aircraft capable of lifting a heavier payload become commonplace.

The wings of the B-36 were large even when compared with present-day aircraft, exceeding, for example, those of the C-5 Galaxy, and enabled the B-36 to carry enough fuel to fly very long missions without refueling. The widest point around the chord of the wing was seven and a half feet thick containing a crawlspace that allowed crew access to the engines

The propulsion system alone made the B-36 a very unusual aircraft. All B-36s featured six 28-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-4360 'Wasp Major' radial engines. Even though the prototype R-4360s delivered a total of 18,000 hp (13 MW), early B-36s were slow and required long takeoff runs. The situation improved with later versions delivering 3,800 hp (2.8 MW) apiece.[24] Each engine drove an immense three-bladed propeller, 19 ft (5.8 m) in diameter, mounted in the pusher configuration. This unusual configuration prevented propeller turbulence from interfering with airflow over the wing, but also lead to chronic engine-overheating due to insufficient airflow around the engines, resulting in numerous in-flight engine fires.

Some Guy From NY fucked around with this message at 03:01 on Mar 9, 2010

# ¿ Mar 9, 2010 02:35

Some Guy From NY: Dec 11, 2007

mlmp08 posted:

Yeah, the F-117 was cool in the 90s for showing up out of nowhere and dropping a bunker buster on your commo node, HQ, radome, power plant, etc. But it's just not a great air support platform and we have better ways to nail such high priority targets now.

It's also just not that stealthy.

Edit for photos: The F-5 is the most gorgeous jet fighter ever. Look how small and awesome it is next to this ~~far more capable~~ far more fat and piggish F-15.

Having oodles of money and owning a private T-38 (trainer version of F-5) would be the best thing ever. I am envious of the Nasa pilots who fly these things over the city all the time down here.

Can the F-5 do this?

quote:

Famous pictures and video of an Israeli F-15, flown by pilot Zivi Nedivi in 1983, who managed to return to base safely after losing an entire wing in a mid-air collision with an A-4 Skyhawk. An absolutely remarkable display of piloting skill, not to mention a fabulous demonstration of the durability of the F-15 Eagle.

with video:

http://spluch.blogspot.com/2007/12/f-15-lands-miraculously-with-wing.html

It lost an entire wing and STILL flew back home without spiraling into the ground uncontrollably.

Awesome.

# ¿ Mar 12, 2010 13:37

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Aeronautical Insanity: switching to secondary tolerances