Speculative Warplane Designs - A History in Patents

Okay, here is my favorite title from Dataview Publishing to date. This is a fascinating compilation of drawings of proposed combat aircraft designs that were submitted to the US Patent Office for protection. These are used to ensure that a potential competitor doesn't steal your design without having legal consequences.

Some of these ideas are quite 'unusual' while others look like designs that came very close to production. There are a few rather contemporary designs that are noteworthy, but more on this later.

First off, look at the diagram below. Why yes, that is a B-24Z Zwilling (or the US equivalent). As if one Liberator wasn't enough of a challenge to fly, here are two in VERY close formation!

Some of the drawings in this unique title date back as far as the late 1930s, though the majority are for designs submitted during World War Two and shortly thereafter. The coverage doesn't stop there! While there seems to only be a few drawings from the 1950s through the 1980s in the title, coverage picks up in the 1990s and this is where the title gets interesting (for me). There are quite a few designs for 'stealth aircraft' that made it into the patent office from some big names in the aviation industry, including a tail-less manned carrier fighter with distinctive low-observable characteristics. Many of these 'new' designs look like concepts that would have been squirreled away in a back hangar at Edwards AFB or safely inside the infamous 'Area 51'.

The companies and/or individuals whose designes were patented and are covered in this title include:

• Altherr
• Beck
• Bell
• Bellanca
• Berlin
• Boeing
• Case
• Curtiss-Wright
• Doi
• Driggs
• Dynamic Engineering
• Fairchild
• Goodyear
• Interstate Aircraft
• Kelly
• Kemmer
• Lippisch
• Lockheed
• Maycen
• McDonnell
• Northrop
• Price
• Republic
• Risicio
• Rockwell
• Ryan
• Silverstein
• Taylor
• Teledyne-Ryan
• Thompson
• Whitworth
• Wilson

This title is available directly from the publisher at Dataview Publications (www.dataviewbooks.com). or from Amazon.

My sincere thanks to Dataview Publications for this review sample!