Ever since Bill posted this fabulous black and white picture from TV21 showing what is probably the origin of Project SWORD's Scout 2 I have tried to find out more about the mystery space ferry.
Here are the responses to my most recent enquiries to NASA and other space agencies from last December. Interesting though they are, the TV21 space ferry remains unidentified. How did TV21 get hold of a photograph of what appears to be space plane which, as yet, no agency can put a name to? What do you think readers?
Peter Merlin
Dryden FRC History Office
USA
Between 1964 and 1968, engineers at the Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory (AFFDL) led by Alfred C. Draper studied a variety of lifting-body and wing-body shapes in an attempt to find the optimum configuration for a manoeuvring reentry vehicle to meet Air Force requirements.
Many of these shapes were tested as wind tunnel models, but none were pursued any further. Some of the designs were fixed-geometry concepts with low lift-to-drag ratios. Others were variable-geometry concepts with pop-out wings for use during approach and landing manoeuvres. The 1967 illustration appears to show several of the AFFDL concepts.
In the early development of hypersonics, these shapes apparently
represented an evolutionary dead end. The Between 1963 and 1968, Draper group
studied a wide variety of fixed geometry and variable sweep configurations, as
well as "interference' configurations that had complex undersurface designs to
position shock flow for favorable increases in lift, but which aggravated
aerothermodynamic problems.
"It worked," Draper recalled, "but not to a
sufficient degree to make it worth your while."
The Draper group favored simple configurations with optimized aerodynamic
tailoring. This is undoubtedly why the focus shifted almost entirely to lifting
bodes for a considerable time.
For additional information, you might wish to look for "The Hypersonic
Revolution: Case Studies in the History of Hypersonic Technology," a
three-volume set edited by Dr. Richard P. Hallion. It was published by the Air
Force History and Museums program in 1998.
*
Julia
UK Space Agency
We've never seen the concept before
and think that it is probably only a design and not reality. Swing wings ( to
improve low speed flight performance with the wing un swept and then swept for
high speed flight) were a popular idea in the late sixties/early
seventies. Our Director of Space
Science said that he wishes he still had his copies of TV21 as they are worth a
fortune now...
*
Paul E. Ceruzzi
Smithsonian
Chair, Division of Space History
National Air and Space Museum
Washington, DC
National Air and Space Museum
Washington, DC
So far no one in our Division has
come up with any information. There were several proposals for a retractable
wing for the Space Shuttle as it was being planned, but the concept was
rejected. It is a sound concept from an engineering standpoint and may be
resurrected in the future. The drawings we have for such a Shuttle do not look
like the one you have, unfortunately.
*
Colin A. Fries
Primus Solutions, Inc.
A Subsidiary of ASRC Federal
NASA HQ History Program Office
The
closest I can come is the space ferry concepts by Darrell Romick of Goodyear in
the 1950s. See attached.
So readers, we are not that much firther forward. Can anyone else add anything further to this search?
Its showing promise!
ReplyDeleteWoodsy, your detective work has been able to come up with some fascinating history and background. Somewhere along the line during the '60s time-frame, designer's may have abandoned swing-wing concepts for space craft but decided it was viable for aircraft like the F-111 and B-1.
ReplyDeleteI think I've found it. There was something very familiar to me about it as it reminded me of the re-entry glider from Space 1999. It was itself based on a NASA RPV called Hyper III. This was part of a NASA hypersonic research project for improving lifting body flight characteristics with pop out wings. You can read about it here https://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/HyperIII/ and if you note the picture with some of the smaller scale test models take particular note of the one with the black stripe and NASA meatball here https://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/Fleet/HTML/ECN-1880.html
ReplyDeleteThe development timeline appears to be the late 60s so it seems to fit.
Well done Zubie. That's a deadringer. What a fabulous set of models NASA biult. I can see the resemblance in the Scout and the swing wings in the picture. If only we could find some footage of the plane flying. Well done again and thanks for sharing!
DeleteWell, I found some additional designs that also fit the bill. A follow on or additional development to Hyper III (it's hard to tell because there just isn't much info online about how these programs interacted if at all). The designs are associated with an Air Force aerospace plane developed from the Flight Dynamics Laboratory and the designs are labeled FDL-# (5,6,7 apparently the most developed) all of which represent similar variants with changes to wing, stabilizer and fuselage shape. It would explain the USAF markings and the difficulty in finding additional imagery since the FDL designs didn't lead to much more than wind tunnel models. Curiously FDL-8 data indicated that the switchblade wings could be done away with and the data was used to design the add-on fuselage shell for the X-24B (see http://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2010/02/scale-model-northrop-and-martin-x.html)
ReplyDeleteSuperb Zubie. You have been patient and busy! Great research. I think those designs are most likely the source for the Scout 1. There is a lost film called Hypersonics in which the source for it supposedly appears but I have never found this vintage film or clip online. http://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2014/07/help-needed-to-find-lost-lockheed.html?m=1
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