Real world Kerbal aircraft

[FullMetalMachinist]

How has this thread gone so long without someone mentioning Little Nellie? 

[Tex_NL]

11 minutes ago, FullMetalMachinist said:

How has this thread gone so long without someone mentioning Little Nellie?

[Picsnip]

Probably because autogyro's aren't actually that weird Kerbal.

[nobodyhasthis2]

On 2/26/2016 at 11:43 AM, RizzoTheRat said:

 

So much want...

Now comes with [1.0.5] BDArmory v0.10.3.3 upgrade

 Q

Congratulations to @FullMetalMachinist for getting to her first. Bravo! 

[nobodyhasthis2]

Now that is just wrong

[StrandedonEarth]

On 2/25/2016 at 6:39 AM, pizzaoverhead said:

 

Needs moar boosters...

[Evanitis]

On 2016. 02. 25. at 1:45 PM, nobodyhasthis2 said:

Ok if you don't like forward sweeping wings. Can we come to a compromise? 

I wanted to try this wing-configuration. Some parts of the craft got as far as the ocean. I believe NASA cheats.

[pincushionman]

2 hours ago, Evanitis said:

…I believe NASA cheats.…

NASA blatantly uses FAR and KJR. That airplane makes it look like a few of 'em use Infernal Robotics and pWings too.

EDIT: Oh, I didn't realize that plane was a Burt Rutan hack*. That guy pretty much says "I want a plane that does…" and then he makes a plane that does it before anyone tells him he can't.

* hack in the sense of clever and impressive

Edited February 27, 2016 by pincushionman

[magnemoe]

On 25.2.2016 at 1:45 PM, nobodyhasthis2 said:

Ok if you don't like forward sweeping wings. Can we come to a compromise? 

As I understand they look into this for uav now, makes more sense as no pilot would like anybody see them flying an so ugly plane. 
Simple solution to variable wing geometry. 

Now if you got the wing to rotate fast you get an helicopter, yes they has tried that to. 

[nobodyhasthis2]

2 hours ago, magnemoe said:

As I understand they look into this for uav now, makes more sense as no pilot would like anybody see them flying an so ugly plane. 
Simple solution to variable wing geometry. 

Now if you got the wing to rotate fast you get an helicopter, yes they has tried that to. 

People would not see much as it an experiment in supersonic flight. With the theory that at cruising speed wing produces too much drag. Perhaps it was better to move it out of way and just get lift from the body. However the idea has be around for a lot longer. They started off with some data from an earlier UAV experiment. The whole history is here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_wing

 

Ultimately the payoff was not there as the drag deduction bonuses come with stability problems. The symmetrical swing wing was proved to be better.

Edited February 29, 2016 by nobodyhasthis2

[nobodyhasthis2]

Helicopter or plane?

Prototype test flight of compound helicopter but we don't need the helicopter part for this test =D

[Kozak]

Just now, nobodyhasthis2 said:

Helicopter or plane?

Prototype test flight of compound helicopter but we don't need the helicopter part for this test =D

Both.

[RizzoTheRat]

That was also designed to have the rotor locked in to a fixed position and act as a wing in flight wasn't it?

 

Have any compound helicopter designs ever ended up being successful?  The Cheyenne lost out to the much simpler (and presumably cheaper) Cobra.  Faster than the current helicopter speed record though.

Eurocopter are currently experimenting with the X3 but I'm not sure who the market is for it

Edited February 29, 2016 by RizzoTheRat

[nobodyhasthis2]

3 hours ago, RizzoTheRat said:

That was also designed to have the rotor locked in to a fixed position and act as a wing in flight wasn't it?

 

The rotor will lock in the final version but the curious thing is in the design of the prototype airframe test. It does not have any rotors at all. So technically it just a plane in the first picture.  

[JetJaguar]

How did this thread make it this far without the most Kerbal of all launch vehicles, the Japanese H-IIB?  The mismatched tanks, strap-on solid-fuel boosters, and exposed struts look straight out of KSP:

 

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

23 minutes ago, JetJaguar said:

How did this thread make it this far without the most Kerbal of all launch vehicles, the Japanese H-IIB?  The mismatched tanks, strap-on solid-fuel boosters, and exposed struts look straight out of KSP:

[...]

I'll see your H-IIB and raise you a Atlas 411:

[SSgt Baloo]

 

[adsii1970]

May I share this one...?

[RizzoTheRat]

8 hours ago, Mad Rocket Scientist said:

I'll see your H-IIB and raise you a Atlas 411:

Hmmm, according to Wikipedia Launches to date:3, successful launches:3.  Now to my mind total launches = successful launches doesn't sound very Kerbal

Amusingly googling it and one of the first hits is on these forums http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/122764-atlas-v-411-just-why/

 

[A35K]

I wonder what would happen if a jet engine as large as the one in that photoshopped picture of the KLM MD-11 (where the fuselage is the jet engine) was made. Would it disintegrate immediately? Explode? But that definitely looks like something a Kerbal would do.

This: (It's obviously fake, but whatever)

[RizzoTheRat]

Engines are getting towards the diameter of a 737 fuselage these days, here's GE's testbed 747 with a GE90 fitted showing the size difference to standard engines (CF6?)

Edited March 3, 2016 by RizzoTheRat

[SSgt Baloo]

On 3/2/2016 at 6:17 PM, adsii1970 said:

May I share this one...?

My late Dad used to work for the State of California's Department of Benefit Payments (formerly the Welfare Department). From his office window, he would occasionally see a guppy taking off from Aerojet General with parts to be delivered to Cape Kennedy. They're big enough that when you see one flying, it looks like it's just crawling.

[razark]

4 minutes ago, SSgt Baloo said:

My late Dad used to work for the State of California's Department of Benefit Payments (formerly the Welfare Department). From his office window, he would occasionally see a guppy taking off from Aerojet General with parts to be delivered to Cape Kennedy. They're big enough that when you see one flying, it looks like it's just crawling.

I've spent most of my life living near Ellington Field, so I've gotten to see it quite a few times.  Just a few weeks ago, I saw it flying around.  Thing looks damn strange, like something that shouldn't be flying, but is.

A couple of my kids even got to go into the cockpit one time.  My father, before he retired, had them one weekend and took them to take his recycling to the drop-off at Ellington.  He decided to take them onto the NASA part of the field, and the Guppy was in the hanger getting an engine replaced.  The crew was really nice and gave them a tour.

[SSgt Baloo]

2 minutes ago, razark said:

I've spent most of my life living near Ellington Field, so I've gotten to see it quite a few times.  Just a few weeks ago, I saw it flying around.  Thing looks damn strange, like something that shouldn't be flying, but is.

I once read an account of an early prototype that had to make an emergency landing when the lobe above the cockpit partially collapsed during a flight test (I think they were doing stall recoveries and went into a higher-speed dive than intended). I wonder how many hours are on those airframes?

[razark]

Just now, SSgt Baloo said:

I wonder how many hours are on those airframes?

I have no clue how old the airframes themselves are, but I love the fact that the design still retains some of it's origin in the B-29 of World War II.

[kerbiloid]

Fairchild XC-120 Packplane

 

Convair Model 118

 

Bell Model 65

(Body from a glider, wing from Cessna, gear from a helicopter, 2 turbojets, VTOL)