As early as 1944 France began the task of re-building its military aircraft industry and developing high performance aircraft for its armed forces. In doing so; French aircraft manufacturers produced some of the most innovative and outlandish bomber projects; proposals; designs and prototypes of the Cold War era.Many French bomber projects started life in response to proposals from the French armed forces. Others were originated by the industry itself; it was also not unusual for rejected fighter designs to be entered in bomber competitions. Furthermore; if national organizations were not convinced of the validity of the industry proposals; or if the military still could not find any use for the technology being proposed; or if the budget was cut; manufacturers might modify their proposals in an attempt to obtain alternative funding from America (Mutual Defense Assistance Act); Germany or NATO. The result was a huge variety of bomber aircraft designs. In some cases a machine rejected for one specific military role could be modified with new avionics; engine or armament and reappear to succeed in another role.As France became a nuclear power; its requirement for nuclear strike aircraft (such as the Dassault Minerve V) grew; and many projects for advanced strike aircraft; including Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) designs; followed. Turbojet; ramjet and rocket propulsion and supersonic designs were all researched; sometimes taking advantage of captured German wartime technology or using national pre-war research.Companion volume to the acclaimed French Secret Projects 1; period drawings; promotional art; photographs of prototype aircraft; mock-ups; wind tunnel and promotional models are all combined to present; in French Secret Projects 2; a comprehensive view of French military bomber and strike aircraft designs from the Liberation of France to the late twentieth-century.
#4142991 in Books 2016-12-15Original language:English 12.00 x 2.10 x 8.50l; .0 #File Name: 1907497293576 pages
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