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Ling-Temco-Vought’s application of the ADAM concept to a proposed 75-ton civil and military VTOL transport aircraft. Ling-Temco-Vought documents, but artwork suggests a wide range of external stores from air-to-air mis- siles to free-fall bombs. As Ling-Temco-Vought’s Design team con- tinued to explore the ADAM concept they pro- duced proposals for a 75-ton civil and military VTOL transport aircraft using the same propulsive principle. Nevertheless, despite strong promotion by Vought, the Pentagon took no further interest in ADAM and the pro- ject was formally terminated in 1965. Pye Wacket At some point in the early 1950s it was recog- nised that a disc-shaped aircraft could perform aerobatic manoeuvres that were not possible with conventional fixed wing design. One par- ticularly interesting example of this thinking came from the San Diego-based aerospace specialist John C Fischer Jnr, who designed a high-performance one-man flying disc in 1954 that was powered by two jet engines and used rotating upper and lower shells to allow sharp flat turns without banking. Although Fischer’s concept came to noth- ing, proposals for a radically different hyper- sonic missile with extreme manoeuvring capabilities were produced by the USAF’s Air Proving Ground Center at Eglin AFB and the Amold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) during the late 1950s. This highly Vought ADAM-11 V-482 aircraft in flight. Tony Buttler/Bill Rose Ling-Temco-Vought’s application of the ADAM concept to a proposed 75-ton civil and military VTOL transport aircraft. Ling-Temco-Vought The highly advanced North American XB-70A Mach 3 bomber. NASA the V-482 and V-485, but they were both gen- erally referred to as the ADAM II. These air- craft were expected to have a VTOL capability and a good overload STOL perfor- mance, with supersonic speed in level flight. The overall shape of the aircraft would be configured to take full advantage of the fan flow. Booms would be fitted to each wingtip and each was equipped with a tailfin, provid- ing a V-shaped configuration. The large flaps behind the wings would primarily act as pan- els for flow deflection, taking on the role of — | - | a | ailerons in level flight. Designers expected the aircraft to remain flyable with one engine shut down, so that a sudden engine failure would not lead to a complete loss of control. V-482 was configured as a single-seat interceptor, while V-485 would be a somewhat larger two- seat attack aircraft with an anticipated weight of approximately 30,000Ib —_(13,608kg). Weapons were not discussed in available . : . 103 Vought ADAM-11 V-482 aircraft in flight. Tony Buttler/Bill Rose The highly advanced North American XB-70A. Mach 3 bomber. NASA Postwar Discplane Development