1950s British Concept Art

[Jschmus]

Over the summer, while I was unemployed, I put in a lot of hours at the Carolinas Aviation Museum.  Most of my work, as you know, was as a docent, guiding tours and answering questions.  On those rare occasions when I got to work inside, I got to look through books and photos that were donated for the collection.  At one point, I tried to volunteer my services to help scan those photos into a database they were building, with the eventual goal of  archiving them online.  I didn't have an active computer at home, so I had to settle for looking at things, and making the occasional photocopy.  I finally got around to scanning some of the things I liked, and I wanted to share them with you.  If anyone's interested in the original scans, PM me.

One of the donations was a treasure trove of photos of concepts and prototypes, a bunch of which originated from the "British Information Services".

A CRESCENT TO CUT THE SOUND BARRIER

British designers are working on a new answer to the problems of supersonic flight - the crescent wing.  Designed to take advantage of the best featuresof the three types of wings built for piercing the sound barrier - the delta, the swept-back wing and the razor-thin straight wing - the new wing is claimed to give excellent control and to insure no ill-effects to the aircraft as it meets the sound barrier.

Picture shows two examples of crescent wing design.  They are from Short Brothers and Harland Ltd., British aircraft manufacturers.
(picture issued: November, 1952)

[Jschmus]

BRITAIN'S FIRST JET MILITARY TRANSPORT

Vickers Armstrong Limited announce that they have been authorized to start work on a prototype military transport, the Vickers 1000.  The new transport will be powered by foru Rolls-Royce Conway bypass jet engines.  Approximate dimensions will be as follows: Span, 140'; Length, 146'; Height, 38'6".  The Vickers 1000 is a low-wing monoplane with a wing pattern somewhat similar to that of the Valiant bomber; both the main plane and the tail plane are swept back and the engines are completely enclosed in the wings.  No figures for performance or capacity of the aircraft may be released at present.  The transport will be capable of operating over very long distances at high subsonic speeds.

(Picture released February 4, 1953)

[Jschmus]

This last should be fairly familiar, at least to members of this community.

FIRST DELTA-WING AIRLINER WILL FLY LONDON TO NEW YORK IN 7 HOURS

Preliminary details have just been announced of Britain's first delta-wing civil jet airliner, the Avro "Atlantic", designed to fly non-stop from London to New York in under seven hours.  Developed from the "Vulcan" delta bomber now in super-priority production for the R.A.F., the Atlantic will be capable of carrying between 76 and 131 passengers at more than 600 m.p.h. at an altitude of over 40,000 ft.

Picture shows: Model of the Avr Atlantic, showing the seating arrangements and general design.  In the basic version 94 passengers can be carried, in the luxury version 76, and in the tourist type 131.  An important feature is that all passenger accomodations will be ahead of the cone of noise from the jet engines' exhaust pipes, thus reducing the noise in the cabins.

(picture issued: June, 1953)

[Jschmus]

Neato!  I've been sitting here all weekend wondering if it was possible to re-title the thread, in hopes of inspiring more interest.  Some of this stuff is likely old news, but I thought some might be interested nonetheless.

[Captain Canada]

Great finds, Jason ! The first crescent winged bird is just butt-ugly, if you ask me. The tail looks like it came from a Javelin, tho, which is kinda neat !

The second crescent is a real beauty..... reminds me of a Valiant !

The first transport looks alot like the Comet. The tail area looks like a smaller version of the A380s tail !

And of course we all recognize the last one.....about the only thing Wooksta! has done around here that wasn't evil !