FUNDAMENTALS OF AIRLINER DESIGN PART 19 SUPERSONIC TRANSPORTS II

摘要

Between the years 1957-1960 ONERA in France was investigating very much the same kind of basic aerodynamic and structural problems as its British Supersonic Transport Aircraft Committee (STAC) counterpart. By 1960 the prospects looked sufficiently promising to launch a design competition for a medium-range (stage length 3,500km, 60-80 passengers) supersonic transport (SST) as a purely national project. The choice of speed was left to the manufacturers: Sud Aviation, Dassault and Nord Aviation. All three eventually chose a cruise Mach number between 2.0-2.2 and by late-1961 French officials concluded that the Sud design was the most promising. In 1960 Bristol Aircraft was awarded a design contract for an SST with transatlantic range for 130 passengers. This led to some soul searching; allowing for the weight growth that was bound to occur, Britain was faced with a project more advanced than any predecessor. The study also asked for exploration of the possibility of collaboration with US and French manufacturers.