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Manufacturers Make Summary Statements On SST Designs The three airframe and three engine manufacturing companies that submitted initial design proposals in the United States supersonic transport program have prepared summary statements of these designs. The airframe companies are The Boeing Company, Lockheed Aircraft, and North American Aviation. The engine companies are Curtiss-Wright, General Electric, and the Pratt & Whitney Division of United Aircraft. Initial design proposals were submitted on January 15 to the government and ten airlines in competition for prime development contracts in the SST program. The proposals are currently being evaluated by the airlines and a 210-member group of Government aviation experts drawn from four civilian agencies and two military services. These summaries were prepared and are being released to meet broad public interest in the SST development program. Because of the highly competitive nature of the proposals now being evaluated, and design features involving classified or proprietary information, no further details are available at this time. The summaries prepared by the airframe manufacturers: BOEING "The supersonic transport proposed by Boeing features a variable sweep arrow wing which can be moved in flight. The wing is positioned at a moderate degree of sweepback -- less than that of present subsonic jets -- during takeoff and landing. This gives the Boeing SST a high degree of efficiency in both supersonic and subsonic flight conditions. "The basic arrow wing platform -- under development by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration since 1957 -- was selected by Boeing for its SST. "The Boeing design is the culmination of more than eight years of continuous research and development in the field of large supersonic aircraft and evolved from more than 500 designs of both fixed and variable sweep wing airplanes. "Boeing's proposed SST -- designated the Model 733--will have a gross weight of 430,000 pounds, carry 150 passengers and have a non-stop range of 4,030 statute miles at a cruising speed of Mach 2.7--about 1,800 miles an hour. By extending the length of the airplane's body, the 733 can be built to carry 227 passengers. Takeoff and landing performance is better and noise level on the take off is less than present commercial jets. "The Boeing 733 will have an extended wing span of 173 feet 4 inches and a span of 86 feet 4 inches with wing swept aft. Height of the vertical fin from the ground is 48 feet 4 inches. "The Model 733 is designed to accommodate whatever engine is selected for the United States supersonic transport. "Boeing's tentative program scheduling would call for first flight of the Model 733 in late 1967. First production airplanes would enter service in mid-1971." LOCKHEED "Lockheed Aircraft Corporation offered a Mach 3 design selected on the basis of company studies that indicated this speed choice provided superior payload range characteristics and airline economics. A passenger capacity up to 218 seated five abreast was chosen to create high-earning potential for the airlines. "The Lockheed configuration is based upon an advanced 'double delta' wing shape selected because it is felt to provide important aerodynamic advantages plus simplicity for airline operation. The large wing volume permits a simplified fuel system and provides room for conventional landing gear stowage. "Lockheed believes its design offer excellent flight characteristics over all flight regimes. It permits cruising at 70,000 to 80,000 feet. It also offers very low wing loading (pounds of airplane weight per square foot of wing area) compared to present transports, requires no mechanical high-lift devices, such as leading edge or trailing edge flaps, and uses existing jet runways. There is no horizontal tail. The forward delta, or triangle, of the double delta wing sweeps back sharply from a point just aft of the pilot compartment to about the mid-point on the 222-foot-long fuselage. The wing then assumes a more conventional sweep angle to form the aft delta, which measures 116 feet along the trailing edge. "Wing area totals more than 8000 square feet. "A notable feature of the Lockheed design is the 'weather vision nose.' The nose section, forward of the flight deck, can be adjusted downward by as much as 15 degrees and provides uninterrupted vision for the pilot on takeoff and landing. This will permit landings under conditions of extremely poor visibility. "The Lockheed design is able to use power plants now being offered by each of the three engine manufacturers competing in the U.S. supersonic transport program. Four engines are mounted under the wing in individual pods with maximum accessibility for maintenance. Engine noise on landing and takeoff would be comparable to present jets. "Tires are virtually identical in size and pressure to those used on current jet transports. "Lockheed - California Company, with an outstanding record of commercial transport manufacture and more than a decade of experience in supersonic and very high altitude flight, has responsibility for the Lockheed SST program. "Design and manufacture are planned at Lockheed-California's plants at Burbank and Palmdale, Calif. Approximately 55 per cent of the airplane weight would be subcontracted during production, under a plan that envisions suppliers and subcontractors in virtually every state of the union. "Lockheed feels that the double delta configuration, an new approach to supersonic transport design, lends itself to additional refinements and improvements during the development program." PAGE 20 THE AIR LINE PILOT
