For those like me that take an interest in things that fly you might find this interesting:
http://www.space.com/14438-photos-future-airplanes-nasa-21st-century-aircraft.html (http://www.space.com/14438-photos-future-airplanes-nasa-21st-century-aircraft.html)
Some brilliant design concepts, would love to see some of them in action 8)
I really like the 2 green and white ones, and especially the 2 wing designed one in the first image.
Thanks for sharing this find :thumbsup:
Got to say the designs all seem to look really beautiful and modern when compared to aircraft we have today, lets hope we see some of them in our skies in the not too distant future.
No problem Sybershot, I love aircraft so happy to share when I find things like this and will continue to do so.
I'm interested to see the blended wing bodies in there, this is tech that has been proposed for ages and is realistically the most likely that we will see in the near future
Here is an article on NASA and Blended wing bodies
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/blended-wing-body-is-nasas-green-focus-339194/ (http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/blended-wing-body-is-nasas-green-focus-339194/)
QuoteNo problem Sybershot, I love aircraft so happy to share when I find things like this and will continue to do so.
8) I'll be on the lookout and I'll be reading them ;)
I wanted to be a fighter pilot like my great grandfather when I was growing up, Sadly to find out when I was in high school that I could not pilot or copilot any aircraft for the military for I wore glasses :( It kind of worked out for the best though, for now I have a great wife and 4 great kids.
I love taking my kids to air shows, and reading about new aircraft. brings out the kid in me I guess :D
That makes two of us 8)
My old man was a radar technician on Canberra bombers in the 50's, we used to go to airshows quite a bit when I was a kid, as a result I was hooked on all things that fly.
You just can't beat the sound of Merlin engine though.......
QuoteYou just can't beat the sound of Merlin engine though.......
The merlin jet engine does have a sweet sound, that I can justify :D I heard that the old RR v12 sounded sweet as well from a old friend of mine, I await to to hear one of those fly by me one day ;)
to be fair I meant the RR V12 from WW2, I didn't know there was a jet Merlin!!!
if you have seen a P51-D mustang you've heard the piston Merlin, although built by Packard rather than rolls, in fact the mustang was a failure until married with the Merlin engine :-)
Phew. Thought I was going mad. I always thought a Merlin was a piston engine, with a supercharger I think, or at least one of its variants.
We have two air shows nearby (one east and one west of me) and I often get WWII aircraft flying past. Have seen at least 4 Spitfires together inc a 2 seater training aircraft with clipped wings. Love the distinctive sound.
I have also watched a Spitfire doing chandelles and stall turns. I can watch 'em for as long as they're there.
My favorite Spitfire video :o
Low Spitfire Pass (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8_5Qc1mK54#)
And yes snowy some variants of the Merlin were supercherged such as those on the Lancaster bomber.
Lancaster Bomber Cosford Air Show 2009 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF2Ejnca_xM#ws)
The sound of four Merlins in unison, a sound I could never tire of :D
Quoteto be fair I meant the RR V12 from WW2, I didn't know there was a jet Merlin!!!
There are 2 other merlin engines that I know of besides the rr v12. one is the rocket engine and the other is a jet engine used in rc models. The friend of mine that I said told me about the rr v12 sounding sweet as well, had a rc jet with the merlin jet engine in it.
QuotePhew. Thought I was going mad. I always thought a Merlin was a piston engine, with a supercharger I think, or at least one of its variants.
no your not going mad snowcrash, if your not into rc you probly would not know or heard of it.
Quoteif you have seen a P51-D mustang you've heard the piston Merlin, although built by Packard rather than rolls, in fact the mustang was a failure until married with the Merlin engine :-)
I have seen and heard Mustangs fly by, I however don't know enough about the mustangs to know if they where that model or not. Thanks for the history lesson, Learn something new every day :thumbsup:
In all honesty Sybershot they most likely were the Merlin engined Mustangs, there are few if any A or B models with the Allison engine left ;D
Heres a pic for you to help with recognition, this is the definitive D model:
[attachment deleted by admin]
ANy way, this thread was supposed to be about 21st century aicraft not ww2 aircraft no matter how much I love them :P
So to kick off the thread back in the right direction:
http://adg.stanford.edu/aa241/intro/futureac.html (http://adg.stanford.edu/aa241/intro/futureac.html)
That pelican looks pretty neat even if it is just a cargo carrier :thumbsup:
Ground effects of course aren't new, the russians have been using them for years with the Caspian Sea Monster being the biggest:
Ekranoplane (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbecl88NsEQ#)
Very odd looking machines with their stumpy little wings, and we know Ground Effect is also used in F1 too but with the opposite effect of sucking the car to the ground, not sure how that works though.
Interesting vid DD, and the James Bond music too :D
Ground effects craft have been touted as the future of air frieght for some time, but we will see if that one ever "Takes off".
Oh god that was a truely awful pun, I just couldn't help myself though :(
The main drawback is they can't operate in high wind (sea chop) conditions.
No good for a service.
As far as I'm aware the Caspian Sea Monster is capable of near normal flifgt at several hundred feet, so there must be solutions to this issue........
At several hundred feet you don't get the ground effect.
Use a prop plane.
Just found this on ekranoplans:
http://www.airforce.ru/en/ekranoplanes/ekranoplanes.htm (http://www.airforce.ru/en/ekranoplanes/ekranoplanes.htm)
Haven't read it all yet but looks pretty good :D
I would not mind getting a service call for one of those, Though they probably would not call a marine tech :(
Been ages since I've seen anything to go in this tread, but:
http://innovation.uk.msn.com/tomorrow/are-supersonic-business-jets-the-future-of-flight (http://innovation.uk.msn.com/tomorrow/are-supersonic-business-jets-the-future-of-flight)
that thing looks super sleek and fast.
Love the looks of the QSST plane.
They are pretty impressive I have to say, totally agree with snowy as well on the QSST