Quick
and Dirty Review: American Secret Projects: Fighters &
Interceptors
1945-1978
by
Tony Buttler, hardcover.
I
picked up a copy of this book as a Christmas present for myself, and it
_certainly_ met my considerable expectations, and them some.
I’m
as big
a fan of Luft’46 as the next fellow, but a lot of that was
really
back
of the envelope stuff that designers were churning out just to keep
from being sent to fight the Russians; ie not a lot of hope that metal
would actually be cut. The material in American Secret Projects:
Fighters and Interceptors can be exotic at times, but represents types
that could well have flown had contracts been issued to different
companies, or if requirements had changed. No UFO type stuff here! This
is a great book, just jammed with information and illustrations.
How
to illustrate a book about aircraft that didn’t make it to
the
hardware
stage? Well, many of these types did exist in form of
manufacturer’s
models, and these are depicted in page after page of photos, often shot
from multiple angles to give you a better sense of what a design would
have looked like in 1:1 scale. there are also _many_ 3-views!
I’ve
seen a few
of the
illustrations and models before, but they were
generally in form of tiny reproductions in 1950s/60s magazines, without
any context.
Projects in this book positively scream out to be
modeled by an ambitious kitbasher or resin kit producer - the
swept-wing F3D
Skyknight development, naval
F-104, and the P-530 Cobra
all need to be available in kit form - are you listening, Anigrand?
Chapter
1 deals with the initial USAAF/USAF jets of the postwar period - some
highlights include a two-seat F-84F, a Convair forward-swept wing
fighter, the XP-89 in its (original!) swept wing configuration, the
Lockheed L-167-1 delta that looks more like a JSF contender than a
product of the late 1940s, and several McDonnell designs that are
somewhere betwen a Banshee and an F-88. There's also a Lockheed XF-90
delta, a single-engined F7U
for the USAF,
and a swept-wing XP-92.
Chapter
2-
The First Navy Jets
Some
highlights: The Grumman G-71, the twin-engined G-75 (a "Jet Tigercat"
in appearance) and the G-79 composite powered fighter proposals. We
also see some Banshee
outgrowths from McDonnell, and early swing-wing
designs from Lockheed and Grumman.
Chapter
3
- The First Centuries
Starts with the evolution of the F-100 - coverage of the Advanced F-86
Day Fighter and the Sabre 45 - I've been itching to do a kitbash of a
transition fighter between the Sabre and F-100
and this is
good
inspiration.
Next up are the advanced Northrop F-89s, the
Vought V-171 (which bears a lot of resemblance to the Bristol 188) the
Lockheed L-205 F-104 predecessor with a dorsal intake, and the Republic
F-103.
Chapter 4: The Later Centuries
Starts off
with the evolution of the F-104, and then has two pages dealing with
Republic's AP-55. Northrop's N-102 Fang is next; I didn't know that
this was proposed with a v-tail. And then we see Republic's AP-63, the
original F-105.
This was closer to the RF-84F than the Thud we're
familar with.
*advanced F-106s
*advanced F-100s/F-107 predecessors/alternatives
Chapter 5 - Long Range Interceptors
Highlights-
*Lockheed CL-288 - a greatly scaled up Starfighter
*The McDonnell 110 - which looks like something that would have
resulted from a late night between a Tu-28 Fiddler and an F-101.
*The Republic AP-75 - a huge twin-engined "Thud-like" fuselage with
delta wings and tail.
*Development of the F-108
Chapter
6-
Naval Progress
Highlights-
*Sparrow-armed G-89J Super Tiger
*Vought V-383/384
*Northrop's N-94 Skyray look-alike
*Evolution of the Phantom from the F3H-G/H
studies
*The F6D Missiler, and the competing Grumman G-128 Intruder-derived
proposal,
as well as McDonnell, Vought, and Douglas designs.
Chapter 7: Vertical Take-Off
Covers the early tail-siiter designs, including an X-13 derived
operational type from Ryan, the Bell D-188 “XF-109”
the
huge Republic
AP-100, Convair, Boeing, and Grumman designs for the abortive Sea
Control Ship of the 1970s, as well as the Rockwell XFV-12.
Chapter
8
- Boat Fighters
The F2Y Sea Dart was not the only jet seaplane fighter designed by
Convair, as the company had first put forward the rather elegant
looking Skate, and had later proposed the more powerful F2Y-2. Also
covered in this chapter are the EDO 150 and -152 designs.
Chapter
9
- Into the 1960s
This covers the evolution of the first "Teen Series" fighters - the
F-14 and F-15.
On the Navy side, we see McDonnell's swing-wing F-4
development, as well as the many Grumman VFAX studies - the Tomcat
might well have looked very diffferent! There are also views of the
LTV, McDonnell, and North American VFAX contenders. Vought's V-507
actually made it to the mockup stage - not an unattractive design.
Chapter
10:
Lightweight Fighters
*Northrop’s N-156, which led to the F-5 but started out as a
somewhat stubby t-tailed design.
* Lockheed’s CL-1200 Lancer F-104 outgrowth
*A mid-1960s General Dynamics design that looks like a cross between a
baby F-111 and the YF-16
*Northrop’s advanced F-5s/YF-17
predecessors
*Vought’s V-1100 - you can definitely see the F-8
heritage
*Vought navalized F-16s
At
the end of the book are 13 pages of color photos - I particularly liked
the shot of the Vought V-507 on a flight line next to a pair of A-7s.
There is also an appendix list of American fighter projects, organized
by manufacturer.
The above is not a complete list of everything
that’s in the book, as there are just so many subjects
covered.
Tony
states that there is more material out there, so I’m eagerly
hoping for
a Volume 2!
Book
purchased by myself
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