Ryan Saturn I First Stage Recovery via Rogallo Wing

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...And you thought the Gemini Paraglider was a complicated mess of Tinkertoys:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wboeF4APGc0&feature=related
 
See also this topic "Ryan's Floppy Winged Flyers".
Link: http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,8142.0.html
Some pictures of the Flex Wing on Saturn Boosters are at SDASM Archives.
 
Next to wind tunnel testing
they made drop test also in 1963

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwh8hjjzAKs
 
Also, keep in mind that there was a lot of money floating around during the Apollo program. They did a lot of studies looking at all kinds of things. There was no clear need for most of these concepts and so they did not get built.

I still think it is a shame that after all that expenditure that most of it was thrown away. I think that keeping the Saturn V and other hardware made a lot of sense. In my imaginary universe that I visit from time to time, they never did that. (My imaginary universe also has flying horses.)
 
 

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Boostback like Falcon would seem to be better--in that landing legs could go between the tanks and be longer---rather like a spring loaded meat tenderizer.
 
Great Scott, that's AMAZING !! They certainly had big plans for Rogallo wings. Thanks for your post.
 
Three things I never quite understood with those schemes
1-did it failed because in-flight deployement did not worked ?
2- could it be done with parasail / parafoil, that is - fabric ?
3- was that Rogallo wing metallic (not fabric / cloth) so high speeds / high mach numbers / high temperatures ?
 
Been a while, but I used to build 'rather large' Rogallos from single-ply card-stock with several big 'bulldog clips' to shape keel for my young brother to load with ~2" plastic soldiers and 'air-assault' across top-landing then down the stairs.

Our 'flying wings' were, sadly, grounded after an elderly relative opened front door at critical moment, such that stooping 'UFO' parted her hair, continued down front path to collide with gate...
 
I wonder if a C-130 could be send off the Florida coast to meet, snatch and tow those Saturn stages under their giant Ryan Flexwings... guiding them to CCAFS "skid strip" for a landing on skids... or a small undercarriage. Would have been a sight to behold.
 
From Ryan Report of 1965
 

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Suppose you had a conical launcher…covered in foam, but clad in metal that folds out into the wing…doable?
 
publiusr said:
Suppose you had a conical launcher…covered in foam, but clad in metal that folds out into the wing…doable?
Click to expand...
Bad shape for large tanks. See N1.
And what protects the wings.
also, wings are additional mass
 

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