Abstract: An aircraft with two aft mounted prop engines. The side surface portions at the rear portion of the fuselage adjacent to the propellers are contoured from a standard optimized configuration to alleviate adverse effects on the pressure distribution pattern on the surfaces adjacent to the propellers. This is accomplished by contouring the side surface portions at an inward and rearward slant in a forward region, while locating intermediate side surface regions more along a longitudinally aligned contour. The rear regions of the side surface portions slant rearwardly and inwardly to a closure location.

Abstract: Air carrying equipment particularly suited for ballistic type munitions, consisting of two parts that can be mutually coupled: a saddle that can be mounted to straddle the munition, provided with a pair of wings that are opposite and hinged close to the longitudinal edges of the saddle; and a cradle that can be mounted underneath the body of the munition, which can be coupled to saddle and contains fuel tanks, a motor device in the rear and an ogival part or torpedo nose in front with air intake and wind rotor.

Abstract: A helicopter removable container assembly is provided and consists of a container, a means for securing the container to the rear end of a helicopter fuselage whereby the container forms a continuation of the helicopter fuselage when attached thereto and a vehicle for transporting the container when the container is removed from the helicopter fuselage.

Abstract: A command control and propulsion unit for ballistic munitions, including a wind-driven propeller, attached to a front end of the body of the munition for activation of an alternator. The electric power generated by the alternator activates a pump that feeds liquid fuel to a rocket motor oxidized by a liquid oxygen coming from a tank housed in a cradle. The cradle is coupled to a saddle, radially opposite from the cradle, which is provided with hinged and foldable sings. The body of the munition is coupled between the saddle and the cradle.

Abstract: An environmental control system for affording quick attachment and disconnection of a thermal control unit with respect to an aircraft pod or other like vehicular substructure. A complementary interengaging mechanism is provided between the thermal control unit and the aircraft pod for properly positioning the control unit with respect to the pod. A complementary interengaging locking mechanism is provided between the thermal control unit and the aircraft pod for locking the control unit to the pod when so positioned. Complementary fluid connections and electrical connections on the thermal control unit and the aircraft pod are located for interconnection automatically in response to positioning and locking the control unit to the pod.

Abstract: An aircraft is set forth having a fuselage (22) which terminates at a forward bulkhead (38). Secured to the fuselage (22) to complete the aerodynamic shape of the aircraft is one or a number of interchangeable, mission specific nose modules (46). A plurality of sleeves (66) is disposed on the fuselage (22) at the forward bulkhead (38) and a like number of corresponding pins (106) are positioned at the nose module (46), reception of the pins (106) into the sleeves (66) as the nose module (46) is mated to the fuselage (22) providing for first gross positional alignment and, as the pins (106) approach full insertion into the sleeves (66), fine positional alignment for interconnection. Couplers (68, 70) are included to provide connection between any electronics in the nose module (46) and monitoring/control electronics disposed on the fuselage (22) and its cockpit (26). The couplers can accommodate six degrees of malalignment to receive the other fixed portion of the coupling for interconnection thereof.

Abstract: A multi-body aircraft with an all-movable center fuselage 20 which translates relative to two side fuselages 22. At subsonic and transonic flight the center fuselage 20 is in a forward position. At supersonic speeds the center fuselage 20 moves aft so as to ensure optimum aerodynamic interference at particular Mach numbers. This provides an increased shock strength and greater surface area so that significant reductions in zero-lift wave drag can be achieved. This concept allows for a significant increase in the wing aspect ratio which would improve high-lift performance at all speed without incurring a significant supersonic zero-lift wave drag penalty. In addition, an improved low-fineness ratio, high-speed performance is achieved at all speeds and for all flight conditions.

Abstract: An improved rocket staging system for missiles and the like wherein a carriage borne rocket engine assembly is sequentially employed within separate, generally aligned oxidizer stages which are generally coaxially disposed about the central rocket engine and its associated carriage. A central fuel tank is surrounded by several separate, cooperating, generally ring-shaped oxidizer tanks generally coaxially disposed about the rocket periphery. A plurality of oxidizer delivery lines run through each of the outer tanks and up to the top of the fuel tank, where a flexible hose brings oxidizer down to the engine carriage. As fuel is consumed, the rocket motor carriage slides upwardly inside the fuel tank in response to thrust. When the carriage is firmly seated inside the next higher oxidizer tank and all of the propellant has been removed from the lowest tank, the lowest tank is jettisoned to discard unnecessary mass.

Abstract: An improved clamping connection assembly for separable parts of spacecraft is provided and includes a tension belt for securing a plurality of retainers against camming surfaces on flange members on separable spacecraft component parts. The other peripheral edges of the flange members have detents to respectively receive a single shear pin mounted on each of the retainers. The shear pins receive any shear and torsional forces and transmits them between the structural parts of the spacecraft components without creating additional forces on the tension belt.

Abstract: A modular structure formed of components which when assembled define the basic chassis of a land, sea, or air vehicle, to which chassis is attachable a body which may be a fuselage or hull in a selected configuration to create the desired vehicle. The structure consists of substantially identical front and rear cradles joined to opposing ends of a floor tray. The use to which the cradles are put depends on the nature of the vehicle, so that in the case of a land vehicle, wheel suspension fixtures are bolted to the cradles to support the wheels depending on the nature of the vehicle. Overlying the floor tray and secured thereto is a safety capsule, the capsule acting as a truss for the chassis and functioning as the cockpit section of a body which, in the case of an automobile, is completed by a front body section secured to the front cradle and a rear body section secured to the rear cradle.

Abstract: A fail-safe, automatic interlock connector arrangement automatically electrically interconnects an electrical component on a wing to another electrical component on a fuselage of a radio-controlled model airplane at the same time that the wing is connected to the fuselage.

Abstract: A capsule and rocket extraction system for providing an inflight escape system for the pilot of a damaged aircraft. The system comprises a capsule that is separable from the main fuselage of the aircraft and a rocket for extracting the pilot from the capsule. A control system is carried by the capsule for sensing the capsule's speed, altitude and attitude, and for actuating only the rocket to extract the pilot directly from the capsule when the speed, altitude and attitude are at predetermined conditions, and for sequentially actuating a capsule separation device to separate the capsule from the main fuselage and then actuating the rocket to extract the pilot from the separated capsule when the speed, altitude and attitude are at different predetermined conditions.

Abstract: An air vehicle has a passenger section, a tail section including variable camber air foil wings and horizontal and vertical control surfaces, ducted fan propellers and landing gear wheels driven by an engine. The landing gear wheels accelerate the vehicle until the fans produce sufficient thrust, at which time the ducted fans propel the vehicle into flight. In one embodiment, while the tail section is detached, the passenger section can be used as a land vehicle. Alternatively, the passenger section and tail section are formed as a single unit in which case the vehicle is used solely as an airplane.

Abstract: An unmanned aircraft of the remotely piloted type that is characterized by its configuration and outline using rigid counter rotating propellers, positioned substantially at the height of its center of mass or slightly below to allow producing a sufficiently large control moment to use a tether line for landing the aircraft and to allow using two substantially spheroidal surfaces at the top and bottom respectively rather than a single one relatively larger and more detectable surface as when the propellers are at the top.

Abstract: This invention relates to a medical complex comprising an integrated assembly of medical equipment and fittings as well as an outer container and a general services network, suitable for quick installation in a standard aircraft to transform it into an ambulance aircraft and removal therefrom, which complex is apt to operate both on the ground and in flight.

Abstract: A connecting device is provided in aircraft for attaching of built-in elements such as galley and lavatory walls, storage cabinets and the like to structural parts of the airframe. The connecting device meets the special requirements of aircraft construction, reliably prevents corrosion at the structure and at the same time allows for an adjustment for balancing tolerances. The connecting device is constructed such that the individual elements of the connecting device can be combined to each other, that the built-in elements can be adjusted in their position regarding the x-, y-, and z-directions, that as desired space can be provided above the floor level and that the connection bores of the structure are provided with sealing rings.

Abstract: A composite structure window belt has a roll of the lined reinforced plastic window frames set between honeycomb core and covered top and bottom with a reinforced plastic cover. The window frames have built-in reinforcements to accept fasteners for securing windows within the diamond-shaped openings.

Abstract: An aircraft having a plurality of fuselage members, one of which is provided with a replaceable and interchangeable payload carrying section. The replaceable section may be adapted to contain various equipment, ordinance and the like to satisfy different aircraft mission requirements. The replaceable and interchangeable sections are adapted to become an integral part of the fuselage section to which it is attached and permits the payload to be located in proximity to the aircraft's center of gravity such that variations in the equipment that constitutes the payload or discharge of all or part of the payload from the replaceable fuselage section will not substantially alter the aircraft's center of gravity.

Abstract: A design system for aircraft that allows wings of various different planforms to be mounted interchangeably on a common fuselage. Each of the wings has wing semi-spans joined by a center section torque box that mounts the wing in a cut-out in the aircraft fuselage. The torque box has a quadrilateral structure including front and rear main center section spars. These center section spars have their ends connected to the front and rear main spars of the semi-spans to transmit wing loads into the fuselage. The length of the main center section spars are designed in accordance with the invention such that they can connect with the main spars of the wing semi-spans to position the quarter chord of the wing properly with respect to the center of gravity of the aircraft irrespective of the wing planform. Thus, aft-swept, forward-swept, or straight wings can be routinely interchanged on a common fuselage without effecting the positive static longitudinal stability of the aircraft.

Abstract: A vehicle or craft is provided for propeller propulsion with start assist by a releasable rocket engine. The craft is launched from a silo of square-shaped cross-section containing the starter motor for the propeller, whose engine is started while the craft is still in the silo. Diagonally opposed corners of the silo are provided with rails, in which run guides on rudder fins of the craft. The wings are pivoted to the fuselage for deployment whereby the wing tips do not move forward. The rocket engine is jettisoned shortly after take-off by simple disengagement. Parts of the wings and/or the rear of the fuselage may be jettisoned shortly before the craft reaches the target area.

Abstract: A removable secondary aircraft fuel tank enclosure is provided which comprises a pair of substantially flat panels supported within the aircraft fuselage beneath the center wing tank and joined to each other to form a drip pan having a shallow trough for collecting liquid seepage from the tank. A drain line communicates with the trough for discharging liquid collections overboard. An upright removal panel attached to the aircraft structure sealably joins the drip pan fore and aft and means adjacent the enclosure seal the sides of the drip pan against the aircraft structure. Sponge rubber provides a peripheral seal on the flat panels and a plurality of peripheral overcenter fasteners support the drip panel and seals it to the end panels and aircraft structure.

Abstract: An airplane features one basic airframe capable of carrying passengers or cargo such as intermodal containers or vehicles. It consists of a basic structure containing the cockpit, wings, engines and empennage. The cockpit and empennage portions are connected by an open, flat section (similar to a flatbed truck) on which the payload is placed. The payload thus forms and constitutes the fuselage shape and may be comprised of a passenger pod, cargo containers or outsized and vehicular equipment. Loading and unloading of such payloads is facilitated by a removable forward section to permit front end access and by laterally disposed vertical tails for aft end access.

Abstract: A combination road and air vehicle having separate engines for each craft is disclosed. The aircraft has an air frame with wings and tail elements attached to a fuselage with a tricycle landing gear attached to the air frame. A nose platform extends forward from the bottom of the fuselage. The platform is adapted to receive and support a small land vehicle. The aircraft controls are mounted on a folding stalk attached to the top side of the platform. The land vehicle has a central opening in its body through which the control stalk may be elevated to a vertical position. The aircraft and land vehicle each have its own power plant and control system.

Abstract: A method for widening an automotive vehicle by cutting through the vehicle components along a cut line having a predetermined orientation which facilitates salvaging and remounting of certain components, and reattaching of the cut portions after the cut portions have been moved apart a predetermined stretch distance. Spacer components are attached between the cut portions of certain ones of the vehicle components to bridge the stretch distance therebetween. The cut line is located to the right of the vehicle engine and heater/air conditioner assembly to eliminate disruption of interconnections therebetween. The original dash mount is refabricated and an adapter is mounted to it to provide a substitute pair of hood mounts for remounting the original hood, new panels being provided to bridge the stretch spaces around the remounted hood.

Abstract: A flying boat having a boat-like fuselage with a substantially horizontal separation thereof extending in the longitudinal direction into two structural parts which may be separately manufactured, the two parts being a complete lower boat body part and an upper cabin part adapted to be mounted on the boat part, and the lower boat body part and upper cabin part being secured together to form a closed fuselage.

Abstract: A helicopter has main rotor blades foldable over its tail cone and a tail rotor pylon which is foldable about a tail cone vertical hinge from its fore-and-aft flight position through an angle approaching 180.degree. to lie alongside the tail cone. Tail rotor pitch control mechanism includes a cable which extends across the foldable hinged members, direction change pulleys for the cable and an improved 4-bar linkage system which controls the movement of the pulleys within a small envelope circle and maintains a constant tension on the cable throughout the full fold cycle.

Abstract: What follows is a description of a mechanism for displacing structurally related component parts of a larger assembly of parts relative to each other. The component parts are typically locked together into the larger assembly and the mechanism is designed to first unlock the component parts and thereafter produce the relative displacement of the component parts. The mechanism is also designed to reverse the noted procedure and first produce the relative displacement followed by locking of the component parts. The procedure is effected using a single actuator and a continuous operation.

Abstract: A model aircraft of the glider or motor-driven type can be provided with one or more different types of wing according to requirements by interposition between the respective pairs of wings and the fuselage of intermediate members adapted on the one hand to the fuselage of the aeroplane and on the other hand to the associated wings and ensuring an aerodynamically smooth transition from the fuselage to the wing. The fuselage can have a pair of lateral surfaces adapted in accordance with the cross-section of one specific wing construction so that intermediate members are only required if it is desired to employ wings differing from those having such a cross-section.

Abstract: A manned space flight body comprises a cylindrical shell and a shelf construction built into the axially extending, elongated cell defined by the shell. The shelf construction has a shape resembling a hollow prism and is comprised of a plurality of individual, radially extending and axially adjacent storage rooms for various systems used in space flight, and an axially extending operating room is in the free center of the cell surrounded by the shelf construction. All the storage rooms are accessible from the central operating room which is arranged to permit movement therethrough for access to the storage rooms.

Abstract: A lightweight, segmented, easily assembled aircraft having a hollow fuselage tube, upon which the cockpit, wing, empennage, landing gear, engine, and shell segments are supported and secured, is presented. The wing construction aerodynamically extends the effective wingspan of the aircraft and stabilizes flight by including an aileron slot, which rams positive pressured air from the lower surface of the wing over the upper surface of the wing to laminarize the turbulent air near the ailerons, and including an end plate, which is toed-in and canted towards the upper surface. A fore shell segment separates from and moves fowardly of a fixed, aft shell segment along a track apparatus, secured to the hollow fuselage tube, to permit access to the cockpit of the aircraft.

Abstract: A composite reinforcement member is provided for reinforcing composite structural joints. The reinforcement member is optimally a laminate of fiber composite sheets of uniform size and shape which are adhesively bonded together. By virtue of the shape of the laminate and arrangement of the sheets, the fibers substantially distribute a tension load to minimize peel forces on the structural joint.

Abstract: A vertical takeoff and landing aircraft having a tail assembly supporting structure which is pivotally connected to the fuselage, and having a shrouded fan driven by an engine submerged in the fuselage, the shrouded fan being connected to and rotatable with the tail supporting structure so as to direct the slipstream of the shrouded fan over the tail assembly at all times.

Abstract: The landing gear units for a high-wing aircraft are retractable into a single elongated carrier, which in turn revolves at a midpoint about a vertical axis in the fuselage. When deployed the carrier extends transversely outwardly from opposite sides of the fuselage to position the landing wheels in a transverse array. When stowed, with the wheels retracted into the carrier, the carrier is rotated into a longitudinal notch in the bottom of the fuselage.

Abstract: A Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) aircraft that has a small stowage envelope made possible by articulation of the aircraft empennage and fuselage, the aircraft having propulsion units capable of providing in all attitudes of the empennage with respect to said fuselage engine wash of the empennage thereby insuring aircraft control without additional reaction stabilizing units.

Abstract: A high strength frusto-conical or conical structure utilizing an integral flanged reinforcing grid is disclosed. The structure comprises a skin plate having a generally conical shape, with a plurality of upstanding integral ribs. At least some of the ribs are configured in evenly spaced right and left spirals. Other ribs may extend along conic generatrix intersecting the spiral ribs at points where right and left spiral ribs intersect. Each rib includes a narrow flange at the inner edge, lying substantially parallel to the skin.

Abstract: A connector arrangement for the detachable fastening of airplane wings to the fuselages of model airplanes. The arrangement utilizes generally tongue and groove-like T-shaped connector elements, which are connected to each other within the fuselage, or to a constructional element located therein, by a rubber band under pretensioning. These tongue and groove-like connector elements are adapted to be swivelled or rotated in their extended positions, and may then come into contact with an intermediate member or the outer surface of the fuselage, and are maintained in their rotated positions. In this position, the tongue and groove-like connector element, upon attachment of the airplane wing, may be positioned in a cutout formed in the end surface of the wing.