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johnwickart β Boeing SST
Published: 2013-10-19 01:18:09 +0000 UTC; Views: 4642; Favourites: 59; Downloads: 0
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Description
Mixed media work of a poster of what might have been. Boeing was awarded Government funding in 1966 for a Super Sonic Transport. 25 airlines placed orders for 125 aircraft. Able to cruise at Mach 2.7 at 60,000 ft. The aircraft was roughly the same size as a North American B-70 bomber or a 747. Boeing actually changed the design after the contract was awarded. The final design is pictured with the Β Pan Am logo, the initial design with the variable geometry wings is shown in the main drawing. The initial design proved much too heavy and was revised.( I have revised this statement as I relied on my memory and my brothers reminded me that I had the original explanation backwards. The variable wing design was the initial design.) I have shown it flying over Lower Manhattan in the background. I referenced a post card from the 1960's for the background and tried to make it as accurate as possible. Funding was cancelled in 1971 and a single mock up is the only thing remaining of the project.20x14 inches on Bristol Smooth. Prisma Colors colored pencils and markers. I have about 100 hours in this drawing.
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Comments: 30
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What goes around comes around again.
See:
www.chron.com/neighborhood/galβ¦
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So close yet so far away. I actually have an old "Look" magazine from 1967 that talks about the SST race, and the optimism for this jet was so high, it almost makes this poster feel depressing lol
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Β If only they'd try it again today. I'm sure with today's technology, they could probably pull it off. Too bad with fuel costs rising, it feels like nobody is trying to lift a finger to make it happen.
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I think the technical side of things could be worked out, but sonic booms going off all over the place would be too much for the general public. Thanks for the note .
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Β Actually, they could shape the nose to reduce or even completely eliminate the sonic boom. I even have the Popular Mechanics issue lying around somewhere. Several companies were considering designs for supersonic biz jets as the time, though I guess the near-economic collapse made them push such proposals to the wayside.
Β That is why I'm convinced that as soon as we could just replace those increasingly expensive and pollutive fossil fuel-based jet fuels with something else, supersonic transports for commercial use would be just around the corner. Being able to fly in a supersonic aircraft for the first time, that would be a special experience I would look forward to.
Β Too bad those damned fossil-fuel companies are probably doing everything they can to make them stick around as long as possible.
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The fuselage mockup is in the Heller Museum in San Mateo, CA. Worth a look.
I want the ashtray from it!
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Thanks for the info.
Getting any information about this aircraft and mockup are hard to come by.
Thanks for the fave.Β
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They were too ambitious when they chose M2,7-3.0 as speed. This meant that they could not use aluminum as the primary material but had to figure out how to use titanium.
The XB-70 usedΒ a lot of titanium like the SR-70, but it was military projects so it was deep secret how they did and Boeing was forced to reinvent the wheel again.
Love the pic.
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Shame...would have been a glorious competitor!
And who knows where that would have led!
Shame...
Beautiful work sir
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Wow! What might have been...
What a great piece of work!
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Thanks. I spent more time on this than I think I have ever spent on a drawing. I gave it to my brother Greg, for his birthday.
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Wow! I'll bet Greg was glad to get it!
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amazing birds eye view detail of the city. Β Looks real at first, but when you look closer it's just a bunch of carefully arranged lines and colors! Β Very Cool!
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Thank you very much. I am from Seattle and had relatives at Boeing at the time and wanted to treat the aircraft accurately and I wanted to create a poster like drawing of what might have been . The SST would have only flown on International flights because of the sonic booms so I wanted to have an easily recognizable American city. I chose New York and specifically lower Manhattan. I wanted to treat that accurately as well and I looked at a number of black and whites of the city from the 1960's. I spent many an hour on this drawing where I didn't detect a lot of progress and I had to keep plugging away. It is very kind of you to send this note.Β
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I think it would have been twice the size of the Concorde. The project was cancelled because of noise pollution issues and high development and maintenance costs. Designers encountered numerous problems almost after every stage. This was to be at the peak of high speed civil travel, too bad it wasn`t materialised.
Superb drawing, the tonality of the colors is very warm and bright as almost all of your drawings.
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Thanks.
I relied on my memory of the SST program ( I was born in Seattle and had members of my family who worked at Boeing). I had to amend it a bit.
I appreciate your kind thoughts.
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Interesting story; Great work, I really like it...
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Ohhh God! is so great!!!!!!!! you know? looks like a photograph! so great it is!
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Thank you very much !
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you are welcome! you did amazing!
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Nice composition John. I kitbashed the Boeing SST when I was a kid. Always loved the swing-wing design.
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Thanks Mark. It would have been something to behold. The whole project was a little like the XB-70 project. By the time they studied every thing involved it didn't make a lot of sense, I guess. I was disappointed in 1971 when it was cancelled.
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