Rob's Dad's Airliner Postcards

Woodsy,

For Fathers Day, I went through some of my dad’s papers, and came across a stack of postcards he sent me over the years from some of his business travels in the 1960s.

The most interesting group to me were about a dozen postcards showing the airliners he flew in, to various parts of the world.

I thought it would be fun to caption them with the airplane “make-and-model” and send them along. To me, it’s a good example of another “lost” world - world travel for business - although I’m sure it still happens to this day.

Rob C

USA

Boeing 733 Toy Jet Plane

Here's another dreamy jet, the toy Being 733.

It's looks like tin to me but sure is handsome. Not certain of the maker.

Have you anything flying round like this?

Aerion Dream

If the Century 21 Moonship had wings it would look something like this I reckon!

There's a dash of Fireflash too! 

It's 3D rendering of the Aerion Supersonic Mach 1.4 AS2. What a plane! 

Alas, Aerion went bust and the plane remained a model.

 https://share.google/RVpNzkqRfknbl98wu

What's your fave supersonic jet?

WILL'S TIN BOEING SST

Following on from Ed’s Great posts is on his tin aircraft, here is my TM toys Boeing SST Panam. 

It is 18 inches long, battery operated and has a rolling function with flashing lights and an arm which raises it up to simulate a takeoff. 

Unfortunately it is not in the best condition and these functions do not work, but one can imagine..... .

Will O.

UK

Mach 6 Nuclear Powered 600 Seat Jetliner

https://youtu.be/zx1iluQsJdE?si=TOWb8hefU16YpYqW 

Check this out!

MJ

Gotham Base

SWINGIN'

Check out this Video clip of swing wing research:

https://youtu.be/uBIgNZ7CL-s?feature=shared

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It all reminds me of my Project SWORD Scout 2 with its swing wings. Did you/ Have you got a Scout 2 or a swing wing toy plane?

There's an old 60's Lockheed research film called Hypsersonics, which apparently featured the plane which inspired SCOUT 2, but the film is lost. There was a hint of it online years ago but no sign of it now.  Have you ever seen it?

AERION MOONSHIP

I was reading this about a new Supersonic plane https://www.ge.com/news/taxonomy/term/5844 from 2019 and I thought, Wow! 

That new Aerion AS2 looks a lot like our friend the Century 21 Moonship from over 50 years ago! See what you think!

Now that's flying!

Image: GE

Image: Arto

Matchbox Sky-Busters MBX Hypersonic Jet

A fantasy design from Matchbox, the Hypersonic Jet can fly at Mach 5 or higher (the Concorde could only manage Mach 2). The model is actually very similar to a Concorde, with just a few changes. The wings on the real Concorde curve downwards slightly, on the Hypersonic Jet the tips are angled upwards.

The biggest changes are around the tail. Instead of a single fin, there are twin fins, which are canted outwards; with a board, flat rear fuselage. The four engines are mounted on the underside of the wing, just as on Concorde.

Only the white upper fuselage, including the nose tip, small canards, and twin fins, are metal. The lower fuselage and wings are orange plastic. These are held together with four rivets. The undercarriage is black plastic. The wheels do not rotate. Length 118mm; wingspan 63mm.

The colour scheme is orange and white, with black, white, yellow, and orange printing. Matchbox World Airlines. M Airlines appears on the fins, with the number SB70 on the wings. The model has previously been released in a number of other colour schemes, but this is probably the nicest, and most realistic looking.

Moulded in to the underside is the usual collection of names and dates. The Matchbox name is half hidden by the port main undercarriage. The copyright date is 2015, Mattel. SB134 just ahead of the nosewheel. Made in THAILAND appears beneath the starboard wing.

The model comes in a clear plastic bubble, glued to a backing card. The model is shown flying low over a city filled with skyscrapers. Copyright date on the back of the card is 2021, number 16 of 31 models in the 2021 Sky-Busters range.

This is a very nice model, and would have been right at home in Thunderbirds or Captain Scarlet. What do you think?

Paul Adams from New Zealand

HUSH! SPACEPLANES!

There's some fabulously old space plane drawings and illustrations on Hush Kits Extremely Sexy Spaceplanes article. See anything you really like?

https://hushkit.net/2021/10/23/10-extremely-sexy-spaceplanes/

Tarheel SST Concorde

Arto spotted this cool SST toy.

Appearing only once before on MC it's a fine airliner and by Tarheel too!

There is another plane with a similar kind of name on our Tarheel checklist

https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2009/10/bloggiversary-extra-tarheel-and-johnny.html

Have you anything like this?

Life imitating Art from Captain Steve

Merry Christmas to you and the rest of the Moonbase Central community!

I thought you would be interested in this, the Soviet Union's Ilyushin IL-40. To me it has a distinct Gerry Anderson like appearance, particularly the 2nd prototype with the elongated nose.

http://www.diseno-art.com/encyclopedia/strange_vehicles/ilyushin_il-40_brawny.html

http://www.aviastar.org/air/russia/il-40.php

I'm a big fan of the blog, and I finally found something to contribute!

Captain Steve

CHINA'S TIN PASSENGER ROCKET

I saw this online and thought, wow! 

Its a Passenger Rocket ST-1, tinplate and made in China. Sized 33 x 24 cm.

Its as sleek as they come and looks simply stunning.

Goggling it there appears to be a box variation too, which I prefer I think.

And this popped up too. Its not a Passenger Rocket but its a damn fine Jet Passenger Liner from China, the MF 212.

Do you have anything like this readers?

S U P E R S O N I C

 I love this old Boeing SST animation film.

The excitement and optimism of supersonic flight just shines through.

The future was bright during supersonic flight!

Have you any supersonic toys?

THE NEW SUPERSONIC

MJ of Southcoast Base brought this cool craft to my attention, NASA's new X-59.

Check out this short animation.

As MJ says, its very Golden Astronaut/ SpaceXy!

What do you think?

supersonic

 There's just something magical about the SST.

Here's some art I saw on Worthpoint auction site.

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This beautiful machine was painted by Warren McCallister I think, who also rendered the Dyna Soar is such a majestic way as well.

Do you like the SST?

Supersonic Airplanes

I’m sure a lot of you, like me are interested in manned supersonic experimental planes which seem to bridge the gap between aircraft and spacecraft. Many of Britain’s test aircraft were being created in the early fifties and if the governments of the day had allowed these far reaching projects to fully develop their success might have signalled a prelude to a British manned space program.

Obviously, time has shown that this was not to be and the early British pioneers of supersonic flight and their achievements are consigned to history.

Some of these early research aircraft have survived to spend their days on show in various museums including R.A.F. Cosford, the setting for the Flights of Fantasy event.

Here's a few photos I took while I was there.

The Avro 707C was the final variant in delta wing tailless aircraft that would eventually develop into the Vulcan bomber. It made it’s first flight on 1^ST July, 1953.

The Saunders-Roe SR 53 was an experimental interceptor aircraft which used a mix of jet and rocket propulsion. It made it’s first flight on 16^th May, 1957.

　
The Fairey Delta 2 was the first jet aircraft to exceed 1000 m.p.h. at level flight reaching a terminal speed of 1132 m.p.h. on 10^th March, 1956. It had a long tapered nose which drooped during take-off and landing. A similar innovation was later used on Concorde’

　
The Bristol 188 was a supersonic research aircraft designed to travel at Mach 2. It made it’s first flight on 14^th April, 1962. It’s advanced design meant many construction techniques had be developed leading to delays and setbacks. However In spite of problems during development it did achieve a speed of 1440 m.p.h. (Mach 1.88) and earned the nicknamed ’The Flaming Pencil’.

The B.A.C. TSR-2 was a tactical strike and reconnaissance aircraft which would have used advanced avionics and be capable of speeds of up to Mach 2. It would have put Britain way ahead in military aircraft development. It made its first flight on 27^th September 1964. It was designed to be best at everything which meant spiralling costs. In 1965 the project was cancelled and to my mind any chance of Britain moving towards a manned space program at the time disappeared over the horizon.