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In autumn 1969 Baldassare Catalanotto, then Editor-in-Chief of the Italian magazine Alata Internazionale, was invited to visit Lockheed-Burbank. Always marketing-oriented, Lockheed was then working on the Italian market on at least three fronts: trying to interest Alitalia n the L-1011 (the airline later chose DC-10s); selling C-130 to phase-out C-119 (mission accomplished...) and stopping MRCA (with various proposals for F-104 follow-ons, the S version having just entered series production). In this vein, Catalanotto was shown some advanced projects in Burbank, both civilian and military, those last for some reasons all linked in a way or another with the Navy. He published at least some of them in the December 1969 issue of the magazine with artistic views and brief descriptions. I'll post here all six of them, in separate topics. As you'll see, some I've been able to identify, other (two) not, and one is REALLY intriguing (I'll leave that for the Big Ending of the series). Let's start, with a design for an unorthodox VTOL attack aircraft for carrier use. UN Navy Contract N-0019-67-C-0261 asked Lockheed to study some advanced concepts of VTOL aircrafts using rigid rotors to take-off and landing and normal jets for horizontal flight. The company designed two different concepts. The Model CL-1054, shown here, was the preferred solution. The rigid rotor was cold-jet driven, then stopped and swept in a closely coupled double wing. GTOW 40.000 lbs with a 4000 lbs payload and 9400 lbs of fuel. Max speed Mach 0.85. Engine two Allison PD-187, that would provide both the air for the cold-jets and the thrust for horizontal flight.
