The USN Attack Programme of 1948

[bgire]

Hello Folks ,
A few years ago I started designing some aircraft of the "Attack Program" set by the US Navy in 1948 and aimed at supplying nuclear bomb large aircraft for the planned USS United States super carrier.
I discovered the excellent book from Zichek and decided to draw, print and assemble seven of the twelve projects described.

My initial aim was to design at 1:700 scale to "equip" my current build of United States but I managed to produce them at a later time in 1:144.

My first project was the strange Convair M-128, the only (AFAIK) jet powered, nuclear long range bomber, angled wing BIPLANE!

This aircraft carried an upper wing at take-off: this was but a large fuel tank which gave both higher lift at slow speed and greater range. The wing was to be jettisoned when the aircraft reaches its cruise altitude.

This very innovative aircraft introduced many interesting components: shell shaped fuselage, six engines surounding a backward nuclear bomb ejection tunnel (as on original Vigilante) and canard forward wings.
Folding the wings for carrier use would have been very spectacular indeed.



Here are the first printings of the 1:700 version:



_Bruno

 

[Silencer1]

Hello, bgire!

Very nice model!
But I already seen such design, marked by Fairchild M-121. Proposal for long-range heavy bomber, which eventually came to B-52.
Never seen the book of Zichek, though.

 

[bgire]

Thank you Silencer,
Here is Zichek's book, well worth to buy:



Out of the twelve proposals examined in this book only one eventually surfaced in a modified configuration as the Douglas Skywarrior (the Whale).

Next project in my list was the Convait LRSA, a composite with a three engined supersonic bomb carrying main body with a return piloted delta single engine aircraft.
The composite had a jettisonable landing gear and Jato assisted take-off.
When handled on carrier it has to be lift up at the nose with a special carriage in order to let the fin pass under the 28.5 feet hangar height of United States.



And first printings:

 

[Silencer1]

Thank you very much, bgire!
Your's models, both 3D and printed looks very impressive. Keep up the good work!

From Tony Butler's "American Secret Projects: Bombers etc."

 

[Madoc]

Nice work! Great to see these concepts visualized in 3D and amazing to see 'em created in scale too!

 

[edwest4]

Excellent work. What material are you using for the models?

 

[_Del_]

This is fantastic!

 

[bgire]

Excellent work. What material are you using for the models?

Original 3D masters are printed in acrylic grey resin. Ultimately they'll be cast in polyurethane resin which is easier to work (acrylic is somewhat brittle)
_Bruno

 

[edwest4]

Thank you. The resolution in the photos looks quite high.

 

[bgire]

Resolution is 25µm (.025mm). My printer is a Formlab Form2. Masters as shown on the photos have to be polished for a perfect surface look.

 

[edwest4]

Thanks again. I am familiar with Formlab Form2.

 

[garys]

Amazing work!

 

[galgot]

Hi, Do you know of an online service providing this kind of resolution.
I've have a model to 3d print, but I don't like to have to thicken the wing trailing edge up to 1mm as the service I've tried asked me...

 

[Pioneer]

Hello Folks ,
A few years ago I started designing some aircraft of the "Attack Program" set by the US Navy in 1948 and aimed at supplying nuclear bomb large aircraft for the planned USS United States super carrier.
I discovered the excellent book from Zichek and decided to draw, print and assemble seven of the twelve projects described.

My initial aim was to design at 1:700 scale to "equip" my current build of United States but I managed to produce them at a later time in 1:144.

My first project was the strange Convair M-128, the only (AFAIK) jet powered, nuclear long range bomber, angled wing BIPLANE!

This aircraft carried an upper wing at take-off: this was but a large fuel tank which gave both higher lift at slow speed and greater range. The wing was to be jettisoned when the aircraft reaches its cruise altitude.

This very innovative aircraft introduced many interesting components: shell shaped fuselage, six engines surounding a backward nuclear bomb ejection tunnel (as on original Vigilante) and canard forward wings.
Folding the wings for carrier use would have been very spectacular indeed.

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Here are the first printings of the 1:700 version:

View attachment 618136

_Bruno

Wow, that wing-fold arrangement is crazy!

Thanks for sharing your project, very impressive!!

Regards
Pioneer

 

[southwestforests]

Earlier today was looking at Zichek's book again & just now went looking to see what about this plane might be online. This is one of my favorite concepts in the book.
Would really be something if life had gone such a direction as to allow going to stand next to one in real life, I'll bet that with its size and that 'drop tank' upper wing it would have an imposing sense of presence.

I do have suspicions about that rearward ejecting bomb system after reading a couple accounts of A5 Vigilantes finding that bombs sometimes 'drafted' the plane for a distance.
And then what would happen with the Fairchild job ejecting that ordnance in to a tunnel of multiple jet exhausts seems to be a not-insignificant question.

And finally, this thing is just begging to be inspiration for a sci-fi craft.

Great renderings up there, too.

 

[bgire]

Thanks for your comment. I've recently re-printed those prototypes for far better results with my new Form3 printer. I'm now seriously planning a 1:144 scale version which should allow for more details, as I want to fully reproduce Zichek's copies of original Convair plans.
Note the rearward bomb ejection was designed a couple of years earlier than for Vigilante: only after first trials with the A5 it was understood this was but a bad design. The jettisonable tank upper wing would have been a maintenance and ordnance nightmare. The "supersonic nuclear biplane" idea was a great temptation to me however.
_Bruno

 

[Dilandu]

Thank you - very interesting!

 

[Skyraider3D]

Cool stuff! I love that book, heaps of inspiring drawings.

 

[acegeek9992]

Thanks for your comment. I've recently re-printed those prototypes for far better results with my new Form3 printer. I'm now seriously planning a 1:144 scale version which should allow for more details, as I want to fully reproduce Zichek's copies of original Convair plans.
Note the rearward bomb ejection was designed a couple of years earlier than for Vigilante: only after first trials with the A5 it was understood this was but a bad design. The jettisonable tank upper wing would have been a maintenance and ordnance nightmare. The "supersonic nuclear biplane" idea was a great temptation to me however.
_Bruno

Not to mention the instability of the plane due to its design. It definitely could use a twin-boom arrangement to keep the plane from yawing like crazy if flight control fails