Re: North South East or West

As far as 'tomcat's spaceplane' is concerned, my comments come largely
from experience. I know the difference in a point 5 thrust to weight
and a 1:1 thrust to weight.

At point 5 you take off quickly and with nearly instant
maneuverability. You reach 20,000 feet rapidly and can push the plane
to 1.8 mach or so.

At 1:1 you take off very rapidly, and have noticed the G-forces in
doing so. The plane will climb so fast it as though it almost wants to
go up and can accelerate on a rapid climb. You reach 50,000 feet
rapidly and can push the plane past mach 2.

Now I know that engineers like to talk instead of Dry Weight and Mass
Ratios. Those are mathematical things, open to errors unique to
mathematics, namely, GIGO. But an experienced pilot can extrapolate
based on the point 5 and 1:1 experiences to predict spaceplane handling
and speeds with a spaceplane. And, ya, I know it is 'seat of the
pants', but seat of the pants works.

The F-15 Eagle is roughly a 1:1 bird. The USAF loves to show pictures
of it climbing perfectly vertical. Impressive! But it doesn't climb
very fast perfectly vertical. In fact, you begin to wonder when the
plane will make it to even 1000 feet.

Wings are useless in a vertical climb. Their lift is in the wrong
direction -- sideways -- and has to be compensated for by control
surfaces and, ultimately, thrust. Rocket Scientists build vertical
tubular rockets that have no wings. They rise up perfectly vertical.
They rise up very slow despite thrust to weight in excess of the F-15.

Use wings in a 30 degree climb with better than 1:1 and you will really
'jet' away from the runway and climb very rapidly. Why the difference?
Air. Air compressed to 1 atmosphere by 1 G provides lift via the
wings, a lot of lift. This helps the vehicle speed up and climb, both.

Scientists forgot in their mathematics that air doesn't just induce
drag. It also acts as a ramp, holding much of the vehicle weight. How
do I know this. Because their calculations could not account for the
B-29 delivering a bomb load over Germany with a point 1 thrust to
weight. According to their mathematical calculations that B-29 should
not have been able to leave the runway at all. In short, their
calculations were . . . wrong!

So, tomcat decided to jump on the Scientists a little and point out
their 'little' mistake. Now, with a little luck maybe I have the
Country thinking of spaceplanes that are HOTOL (Horizontal TakeOff and
Land). And, yes those science types tried to shoot me down, but I did
what 'tomcats' always do, I just came back and did it again until they
quit fighting. If you don't believe me just go to your nearest 'bird
farm' and ask some of the other 'tomcats'.


tomcat

.

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