General Electric "Beetle" shielded remote handling vehicle.
USAF Technical Report - WC-TDR-62-137. February 1963. PDF 256 Pages.
File Size: 7.7 MB. Added 22-03-2022.
Image: The LIFE Picture Collection (LIFE Magazine).
U.S. Army VZ-11 Liftfan V/STOL Aircraft.
Brochure, approx 1961. PDF 22 Pages.
File Size: 4.2 MB
Added 22-03-2022.
US Air Force Special Weapons Center evaluation report of the "Beetle" manned manipulator vehicle. For a review of the "Beetle" see Scratchpad section of Issue 1 of Retro Aviation Review. Designed as a means of servicing aircraft nuclear reactors and nuclear ramjet engines for the US Air Force, the General Electric manufactured vehicle was cancelled with the termination of the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion program in early 1961. This report covers field tests conducted during 1962 at the Nuclear Rocket Development Station at Mercury, Nevada of the "Beetle". Also includes an evaluation of the "Masher" - a shielded T-51 tank recovery vehicle, and the "Bat" - a radiation shielded Coleman tow vehicle. And, from the same era - the Ryan VZ-11. This V/STOL aircraft developed from 1962 as the XV-5A "Vertifan" for the US Army validated the "fan-in-wing" principle, however it was not considered capable enough to warrant a production contract and served as an experimental testbed (XV-5B) up until retirement in 1971.
Ford "Seattle-lite" XXI - Concept Car.
Reconstruction of original 1962 brochure. PDF 4 Pages.
File Size: 5.5 MB
Added 22-03-2022.
For something out of the ordinary check out the Ford "Seattle-ite" XXI brochure released at the Century 21 Exposition held in Seattle, Washington during 1962. The futuristic automobile, successor of the earlier Ford "Nucleon" concept car, envisaged a programmable trip computer and map display, finger-tip drive controls, four steerable forward wheels, and (of course) an optional add-on nuclear reactor drive-unit. This "styling experiment" of the Ford Motor Company did not progress further than a scale display model and this brochure, that has been reconstructed from the original. Next is a sales brochure dated approximately 1958 of the Aero Commander 680E utility and business aircraft powered by two Lycoming supercharged piston engines. Developed from the Aero Commander 500 series the 680E was produced in limited numbers and was followed from 1964 by the turboprop powered 680T “Turbo Commander” that used Garrett AiResearch TPE331 turbine engines.