Jared A. Zichek

This is an in-depth study of the designs prepared for the “Convoy Fighter” requirement prepared for the US Navy in the wake of WWII. During that conflict, the protection of convoys against air attack had been ensured by building large numbers of escort carriers, an effective but also expensive solution and not sustainable in peacetime. In the new Cold War environment, the USN explored the idea of a fighter aircraft that would be able to take off and land vertically, and operate from a small platform on the stern of a cargo ship. That stern would, as the ship rolled and pitched in the sea, be in constant motion, not only angular but also vertically and sideways. In preparing their proposals, the manufacturers had to design not only the aircraft, but also solutions to launch and retrieve it safely, and to perform the necessary maintenance.

This book shows how the designers of the half-dozen Convoy Fighter proposals cut the problem in different ways. Some sought a solution that would make the aircraft as independent from external systems as possible, which necessarily implied an unconventional design. The remarkable offering from Goodyear was even designed to tilt itself from a horizontal to a vertical position on its own landing gear, and to take off and land in both attitudes! Others, such as the offering from Lockheed, were as conventional as a tail-sitting VTOL fighter could possibly be, and relied on fairly complex provisions for landing and maintenance being built onto the ship. In that particular case, a system of taut webs, into which the aircraft would hook with spikes attached to its wingtips and tail fins.

The author digs through the details of the variety of proposals, and the thinking of the design teams behind them. Technical drawings from the original proposals are reproduced, and the text condenses the information in the original proposals in a digestible format. Tests done with scale models and in wind tunnels are also described, but the story of the flight testing of the two contenders that were built, the Convair XFY-1 and Lockheed XFV-1, is only very briefly summarised. That is understandable given the length the book already has, but can be a bit disappointing. Yes the prototypes have been described elsewhere, but often without this context. (Bill Yenne’s book on Convair’s Deltas, although it has very good pictures of the XFY-1, is a good example of a work that lacks this context, and includes some inaccuracies.)

This a book for geeks but the exoticism of these tail-sitting fighters, designed around the mighty but troublesome Allison T40 turboprop, more than compensates for the dry descriptions of hydraulic systems and wing beams. Some design team clearly spent more time evaluating the options than others. The book gives a good insight in the working of design teams and engineers in an era that had jet engines, but still calculated with slide rules. There was a tendency of design team to stick with ideas that they were familiar with, hence the Convair design had a delta wing that reflected experience with the XF-92, and the Lockheed design emerged with a thin straight wing not unlike that of the F-104, if without the blown flaps!

There are some typos, most noticeable where they result in absurd numbers, and a few sentences that I cannot make head or tails of. But overall the production quality of this book is high. If you are into the "secret projects" type of aviation book, this is very much worth reading.… (más)

The Definitive Book on The Convoy Fighter Program
Originally published under the author’s Retromechanix Productions the five airplanes are covered with reproductions of the original monographs and plenty of new text and photographs via two new chapters, Introduction and Winner and Losers.
The addition of the new material makes this a relevant purchase even if you purchased the original monographs. Mr. Zichek also encourages the readers to look at the published materials in the introduction to the book. While he counted his previously published materials in the bibliography the remaining books used in the bibliography will not really add anything to what’s published here. The real treasure was found in the archival materials that he used to author the book. – In other words? IMO, don’t waste your money on the other books in the bibliography. (I have 11 of the 14 references listed.)
The book itself covers the specification, design, BuAer evaluations, conceptual illustrations, different variations (Including those pitched to the Army.) and significant coverage of the two that actually flew. The coverage is broad, in-depth, and since many of the OEM drawings are included? Detailed enough to satisfy the most technically minded. The author even goes the extra mile. Using OEM top and front views of two Lockheed variations, he provides reconstructed side profiles on page 61 with a bold face font acknowledging them as reconstructed side views.
Others may find something to quibble about, the only area I found was some of OEM reproductions are touch difficult to read. Since that problem is resident in both the new volume and the original Retromechanix monographs, one has to assume it was because of the source drawings being over 60 years old.
This is a rare book that will satisfy numerous aviation and modeling audiences and is eminently suitable a single volume reference on the Navy VTOL Tail Sitter’s of the ‘50’s.
An unqualified buy recommendation.… (más)

Another excellent Zichek production. Mr. Zichek is very adept at taking archival material and fleshing it out with color illustrations. Access to the original materials and his color illustrations alone makes this monograph worthwhile. However, Mr. Zichek also provides some contemporary insights into the proposal, development, and failure of the N-63. Frankly,I would like to see some larger more comprehensive volumes from him similar to his efforts for Schiffer. However, given the economics of publishing these types of books from the authors standpoint, I will have to be satisfied with these wonderful self-published monographs.… (más)