LEEVENSPARK

Aviation who dare to dream are visionaries In aviation, those who dare to dream are either visionaries or insane. The long road of aviation history is filled with dead-end side roads of designs that simply boggle the mind. Those designs aren't just limited to fanciful thinking by eccentrics, either. Lockheed in the late 1960s devoted a surprising amount of effort to one of my favorite designs that most certainly falls into the "YGBSM" category ( "You Gotta Be Sh*tting Me"- the unofficial motto of the USAF Wild Weasels, allegedly what was said by the pilots and WSOs who attended the first briefing on what was then a secret project ). At the time Lockheed's Skunk Works had been looking at the feasibility of building an ultra-large transport for the US military and heading into the early 1970s the design evovled into the CL-1201 tailless aircraft that would have been for lack of a better description, a flying aircraft carrier. The CL-1201 would have wei

Since 1976, the "Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird" has held the world record for the fastest ‘air-breathing manned aircraft’ with a recorded speed of 1,905.81 knots (2,193.2 mph; 3,529.6 km/h). That works out to a staggering 36.55 miles/58.83 km per minute. The Blackbird was so fast that its strategy against surface-to-air missiles was to simply accelerate and outfly them. B elow you will find an extensive gallery of this iconic aircraft along with information on the history, design and records the plane holds to this day. The SR-71 served with the U.S. Air Force from 1964 to 1998. Of the 32 aircraft built, 12 were lost in accidents, though none to enemy action. Since 1976, it has held the world record for the fastest air-breathing manned aircraft. The first flight of an SR-71 took place on 22 December 1964, at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. The first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later, 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base,

In the late-1950s, many of the surplus Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses that were used by the Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard in the air-sea rescue role found their way into the hands of several civilian fire bomber operations that for the first time along with surplus Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateers, offered a quantum leap in performance with the ability to carry significant loads of fire retardant. In fact, prior to the arrival of the B-17s and PB4Y-2s, no other civilian fire bomber then in use even remotely approached the fire retardant capacity of the converted four-engined bombers. In 1960, the first of about two dozen B-17s were converted with bomb bay tanks for aerial delivery of fire retardants. The bomb bays were fitted with tanks that could carry 2,000 lbs of retardant. The tank was then subdivided into four compartments, each compartment having its own quick-opening door to empty that tank on a forest fire target. The converted B-17s were based on the -F and -G variants prim

In 1969 homebuilt aircraft builder and boat designer George Pereira of Sacramento, California, started work on the Osprey I homebuilt flying boat. Using his technical background in powerboat design and construction, Pereira designed the Osprey I as a high-performance STOL sea plane intended for the growing homebuilt aircraft market. With folding wings, a single-seat open cockpit and able to be transported by a boat trailer, the Osprey I was made of wood, fiberglass, and styrofoam with a Continental C90 four-cylinder 90-hp piston engine mounted on a dorsal pylon driving a fixed-pitch two-bladed propeller. With one pilot and a full load of fuel, the aircraft weighed only 900 lbs and had a top speed of 135 mph. After finishing the design and construction, Pereira had to demonstrate that the Osprey I could safely be flown during an FAA mandatory 50-flight hour restricted flying period to be completed in less than six months. Having duly met the FAA's requirements for a kitbuilt airc

The Convair Model 6, I have to jump back a bit and talk about both the XC-99 and the YB-60 as they're both derivatives of the B-36 Peacemaker. Convair's work on the B-36 began in the midst of the Second World War as there was a concern that Great Britain would fall to the Reich and we would need strategic bombers that could reach Europe from the United States. But in parallel to the development of the B-36 there were design efforts that looked at passenger versions of the B-36. As early as May 1942 Convair had been looking at a transport version of the B-36 called the Model 37 that combined the wing, six pusher piston engines and empennage of the B-36 to a new fuselage unit. In December 1942 the USAAF signed a contract with Convair to build a single example of what was designated the XC-99 on the stipulation that the XC-99 would not divert resources from the B-36 project. Convair saw the XC-99 as a way to validate some of the design concepts of the B-36 quickly as it would no

To boost morale on the home front during the Second World War, aircraft manufacturers celebrated production aircraft milestones. Lockheed, for example, painted the 5,000th P-38 Lightning red and named it "YIPEE". But Boeing wanted to do something different as it approached the 5,000 B-17 Flying Fortress to be built since the attack on Pearl Harbor when the US entered the war against the Axis. Aircraft number 40-37716, a B-17G, was that aircraft and early on it was marked with a notice on the fuselage that it was the 5,000th Flying Fortress to be built since the US entry into the war. Every worker who played a part in the construction of this particular aircraft was invited to sign the aircraft as it advanced down the production line in Seattle. It celebrated the efforts of the thousands of workers who emigrated to Seattle to escape the effects of the Great Depression and work on Boeing's massive production facilities. The enthusiasm that workers applied their signatur

As the Second World War began to wind down, renowed British aircraft designer Barnes Wallis started investigating the challenges of supersonic flight and concluded early on that a variable geometry swing wing was the best way to accommodate the center of gravity changes in moving between the subsonic and supersonic regimes. In 1946 he wrote an engineering paper entitled "The Application of the Aerodynamic Properties to the Stabilisation and Control of Aerodynes" (quite a mouthful) in which he combined his ideas on swing wings with laminar flow studies. Starting out with small hand launched models, Barnes Wallis gradually moved up to larger versions that were launched for a catapult at 100mph. His models had slender, ovoid fuselages with swing wings mounted far to the aft and a single highly swept fin. With the end of the war, the British government was eager to regain research ground lost to the Americans and Vickers was awarded a contract of a half-million pounds to study

As 1944 began, Soviet aeronautical experts were already filtering through information of successful flight tests of British and American jet aircraft and the impending service introduction of rocket- and jet-powered aircraft in the Luftwaffe. The Soviet GKO (State Defense Committee- a wartime organization that ran the Soviet Union during the Second World War), headed by Stalin, quickly concluded that the different efforts by engineers doing research on jet propulsion at the time needed to be consolidated under one organization, the NKAP (People's Commissariat for Aviation Industry). By March of 1944 officials of the NKAP were ready to present Stalin proposals to accelerate Soviet aeronautical technology to match that of the Luftwaffe, but most importantly to keep up with the British and the Americans. Semyon Lavochkin, Artyom Mikoyan, and Pavel Sukhoi of their respective design bureaus (called OKBs) were instructed to develop jet fighters as a matter of national security. At the

Boeing confirmed that it was "invited in-country to provide more information" on the V-22, but that it has not received "an official, written [request for information] from India". In addition, Indian officials visited the V-22 aircraft during the Dubai air show in November 2011, where they asked questions about the aircraft. The V-22 would be well suited to operations along India's vast Himalayan frontier, where high altitudes and long distances hinder helicopter operations. At last year's Paris and Dubai air shows, Osprey representatives made much of a mountain rescue mission in June 2010 conducted by two US Air Force CV-22s. The aircraft flew a 1,290km (700nm) round-trip at 15,000ft (4,570m), landed amid mountainous terrain in dust storm conditions, collected 32 personnel and returned to base. In response to a query about whether the V-22 could be fitted with a radar array for use on Indian aircraft carriers, Boeing said: "While AEW&C [airborne

                                        Airbus recently unveiled its vision for air travel in 40 years’ time, and should their predictions ring true, those with vertigo can forget about flying by 2050. Planes in 2050 will feature see-through plane cabins, holographic pop-up gaming displays and seats that change in size and shape to fit each passenger, according to the company. The concept design was unveiled in London this week and takes similar flight forecasts, made this time last year, several steps further.  Airbus' 2010 predictions about commercial flight Transparent cabin walls As suggested in CNNGo’s own   in-flight wish list   published earlier this month, the plane of the future is fitted with transparent cabin walls that provide passengers with some of the most amazing views of the earth we’ll ever see. Passengers with vertigo who want to shut out the panoramic views can opt to turn their seats into holographic pods, rendering their sitting area opaque. That’s great, b

The Airbus Concept Plane -- reality or really far out? The  Boeing 787 Dreamliner  has finally landed, but what will the air passengers of 2050 look for in a commercial plane? If one asks Airbus, passengers of the future will go gaga over their Airbus Concept Plane. The design is intended to improve environmental performance with ultra long and slim wings, semi-embedded engines and a U-shaped tail resulting in a lower fuel burn, a cut in emissions and less noise. Airbus also suggests that ‘green’ energy sources might power some systems on tomorrow’s aircraft, hinting that even passenger's body heat could play a role. Where things get really compelling is inside the Airbus Concept Plane. Airbus talks of "morphing seats made from ecological, self-cleaning materials, which change shape for a snug fit; walls that become see-through at the touch of a button, affording 360 degree views of the world below; and holographic projections of virtual decors, allowing travelers to transfor