XF-103

[GTX]

Hi folks,

How about some whiff ideas for the XF-103 (hell even an operational one is a whiff):






Some ideas:

USAF Interceptor - well this is what it was supposed to be;
RCAF Interceptor;
RAF Interceptor;
USAF Recon?
Strike platform?

Others?

regards,

Greg

[Cobra]

how about for ASAT Duty? this would work launching Missiles @ Satellites! Dan

[dy031101]

I was wondering if the single turboramjet can just be fed through the twin intake of the AP.75...  ... can it?

[rickshaw]

Okay, I'll play....

How about a twin engined version? I know Republic submitted the AP.75 to the LRIX competition that lead to the XF-108 Rapier, but that was a strictly turbojet affair, even if it did look like the mutant offspring of a night of passion between an F-105 and an XF-103....

So, a twin turboramjet design, either with one HUMONGOUS Ferri style sugar scoop intake as per the original design, or twin forward scarfed Ferri takes mounted laterally, maybe a two seater as well?

Just some idle ravings for now....



Duncan

Single intake might encounter problems trying to smooth the airflow to twin engines.  It would be better I suspect to have twin intakes with variable ramps.  They'd also have to be quite well seperated.   You might end up with box intakes rather than the rounded sugar-scoop one.

[Mossie]

I include this only because it resembles the XF-103.  It's the 'Espadon' (Swordfish), an advanced nuclear strike aircraft from the comic epsiode Le secret de l'Espadon which was part of 'Les Aventures de Blake et Mortimer', which was first published in a Tin Tin comic.

I remember someone saying that it was probably inspired by the XF-103 but I've found out it actually predated it.  The comic episode was published in 1946, the USAF request for a supersonic interceptor didn't go out until 1949.  Still, it makes a good comparison with the XF-103, life imitating art 'n all that.

Our friend Renaud does a kit of it:
http://www.sharkit.com/sharkit/espadon/espadon.htm

[Jschmus]

As seen in the second artwork, Alexander Kartveli favored the design with a normal fighter canopy, but telescopic sights were in vogue with the Air Force then, and they insisted.  I've read that the canopy made only a marginal difference in projected performance.  Maybe if it had been that mite more conventional-looking...

[apophenia]

IIRC, the recessed cockpit and periscope were the result of concerns over plexiglass heating up at speed. Once those concerns were addressed, the XF-103 was given a slightly more conventional looking canopy.

[Daryl J.]

Being a Republic made aircraft, it would have to be based in either Montana or N. Dakota because that's about the only area that can handle a runway 13 miles long!   


My vote is for the traditional canopy with enlarged flying surfaces to avoid the above mentioned challenge.   



Daryl J.

[RB-211]

It's so ugly that I'm trying to forget it

[KJ_Lesnick]

I think it would be cool to have an XF-103 with two engines with each intake mounted on either side of the plane rather than on the underside, and a delta wing of some sort