Re: OT: "Warplane" Documentary Starts This Week on PBS



Paul Suhler wrote:


Bob Widmer didn't tell me much about Kingfish, so I can't answer your question. On the other end, I'd read years ago that Kelly Johnson criticized the rectangular inlets as being susceptible to unstarts.


You can see that happening due to shockwave position shifts during turns at those speeds- Navaho had trouble with its side mounted inlets causing the ramjets to flame out during turns due to shockwave position shifts.
What's really noticeably different here is that Kingfish doesn't have that plethora of airflow grills and louvers one finds on the A-12's nacelles.
The design looks way too simplistic to me; fine in a wind tunnel, but probably almost impossible to make work in the real world if built.
On the other hand, this looks way too complex to make work: http://sb.balancer.ru/usa/convair/b/58/super/super.htm
I'd hate to be the first person to lower that nose for landing and see what happens aerodynamically to the aircraft's handling characteristics.
It's interesting to think that something that oddball was going to evolve in the only mildly exotic F-111.

Pat
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