Hello All,

For scale ducted-rocket boost-gliders or rocket gliders, or for ducted Jetex or Rapier (or even ducted pulsejet) scale aircraft models, the combined turbojet/ramjet-powered French Nord Griffon (see: https://www.google.com/images?hl=en...Ag&ved=0CBsQsAQ ) and the proposed-but-never-built twin-engine Nord Super Griffon (see: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sletch/3781712896/ , https://www.google.com/images?q=nor...Dg&ved=0CBsQsAQ , and http://www.alternatehistory.com/dis...ead.php?t=98202 [the pix are a ways down the "screen-page," and also include interesting German, British, and Japanese turbojet/ramjet fighter designs]) would make good and interesting scale subjects. Also:

The Nord Griffon's Atar turbojet engine was mounted inside its ramjet engine. I have long thought that a larger turbojet/ramjet vehicle similar in concept to the Nord Super Griffon, with wing-tip rudders instead of a central vertical stabilizer, could serve as an air-breathing booster for a pure-rocket orbital spaceplane, which would be carried on and released from the booster's back. Even without resorting to supersonic combustion (using scramjets instead of ramjets), such a vehicle could reach Mach 6, which would be sufficiently fast to launch a reasonably-sized spaceplane which would complete the ascent to Earth orbit, thus enabling a fully-reusable space transporter to be realized. (A wayward ramjet-powered ASALM [Advanced Strategic Air-Launched Missile] test vehicle [see: http://www.designation-systems.net/...app4/asalm.html ] accidentally reached Mach 5.5 at 40,000 feet [instead of Mach 4.5] using an ordinary subsonic-combustion ramjet engine, so an air-breathing space transporter booster stage could use such engines as well. While the fuel efficiency of a subsonic-combustion ramjet would fall off at such speeds, that isn't a problem for a booster stage, as it is *velocity* [at staging], rather than cruising range, that is important--after staging, the booster would glide down and then re-start its turbojet engines, to land at a downrange site or to fly back to its launch site.)

I hope this material will be helpful.

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