John Dyke's Delta and NASA
Ted Harper
I was talking to John Dyke on saturday and he told me that, I beleive,
NASA is wanting to use his Delta for space work. I guess they have
already done TOW test with it and it did fine. Something about needing
a light vehicle to re-enter the atmosphere more slowly!!
He would have liked to use his own at the Springfield Ohio airport
but with the problem he's having with the management of the airport,
it apparently isn't possible.....that city is really something else.
They are missing out on some real possibilities for their fair city!!
John can't get any attorney locally to take his case and that is
really disgusting. Would any of you attorneys like to talk to John??
He really needs some good advise. I told him I'd put a note on this
web about it to see if anyone would be willing to help him. You can
E-mail me or contact John directly....I'd be happy to pass any info
along to him....no man should be held hostage like this. Tony??
Thanks guys and gals....I know John would greatly appreciate you
giving him some real help!!
John Dyke
2840 Old Yellow Springs Road
Fairborn OH 45324
(937)878-9831
Ted Harper
harper.@osu.edu
Al Bowers
harp...@osu.edu (Ted Harper) writes:
>I was talking to John Dyke on saturday and he told me that, I beleive,
>NASA is wanting to use his Delta for space work. I guess they have
>already done TOW test with it and it did fine. Something about needing
>a light vehicle to re-enter the atmosphere more slowly!!
This isn't exactly true. Kelly Space & Technology Corp developed a
space launch idea, which is being investigated and funded by the US
Air Force through a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR)
Contract. The Air Force Research Lab (formerly Phillips Lab) is
managing the project. The concept that Kelly has come up with is to
tow a space launch vehicle with a large transport category aircraft.
the space launcher would be towed, like a sailplane, and then the
rocket would ignite to take the Eclipse space launcher to altitude,
where the satellite would be deployed and a kick motor to put the
satellite in orbit.
The problem is, can you predict the dynamic behavior of a towed
aircraft system this large? NASA was asked to help in the analysis,
and in a proof of concept demonstration. for this, the USAF provided
a C-141A aircraft and two QF-106 aircraft were "bailed" (government
speak for "on permanent loan") to NASA for this use. A B-52 drag
chute release mechanism was installed on the nose of one of the
F-106s, some structural beef-up was required (these airplanes were
never meant to be "pulled" by the nose), and instrumentation
installed. the tow "rope" is 1000 feet long of a high tech liquid
crystal polymer with a short length of nylon in the tow train as a
damper (rope frequency is _*EVERYTHING*_ in this experiment).
Now NASA has had some bad experience with towing aircraft (the M2F1)
and are well aware that the obvious and intuitive is seldom either.
This is exactly such a case.
However, during the course of this work, one of John Dyke's airplanes
was purchased (not by NASA, or the USAF, and no government funds were
used) and a tow hook installed and it was towed by a 235 hp Maule.
The experiment was not entirely successful, though no incidents
occured and both aircraft separated normally and landed.
So, yes, someone did tow one of John Dyke's Delta designs. But it was
not NASA or the US Air Force; nor was it government funded; nor part
of the research program.
Al Bowers
Tony Pucillo
Ted:
I already made the offer, but John isn't on the Internet, nobody will
FAX me the documents about the conflict and it's just impossible to sort
out what he is trying to accomplish with his lawsuit?? and what he was
charged with (trespass for being a mechanic and in a private hangar??)
from the third-hand info.
I suspect John has an independent streak, but this may not be the time
for it. Of course I don't practice in Ohio and he may have a lawyer
there.
But yes, the offer has been made if anybody would send me a file on it
and a narrative! Heck, I'm a Dyke Delta builder in my "spare" time
from all these altruistic efforts. :)
Tony Pucillo
[I speak only for myself unless I say otherwise. One personality is
quite enough, thank you.]
"Castigat ridendo mores" <laughter succeeds where lecturing won't>
Tony Pucillo
Al:
You are forbidden to write for US Aviator. You have ruined a perfectly
good, highly grandiose and entertaining story by injecting inconvenient
and contradictory FACT. Worse yet, you have researched the specifics
and disclosed them along with sources. This is inexcusable. :)
Actually, it was a pleasure to read something so thoroughly laid out.
Good work, and I AM wondering how you get access to all this info, but
won't ask.
Al Bowers
Tony Pucillo <ae...@mail.idt.net> writes:
> Al:
> You are forbidden to write for US Aviator. You have ruined a perfectly
> good, highly grandiose and entertaining story by injecting inconvenient
> and contradictory FACT. Worse yet, you have researched the specifics
> and disclosed them along with sources. This is inexcusable. :)
Thanks Tony.
> Actually, it was a pleasure to read something so thoroughly laid out.
> Good work, and I AM wondering how you get access to all this info, but
> won't ask.
Being the Chief Engineer on the project probably helps. But in the
governement, I wouldn't count on it.
Al Bowers
Chief Engineer, NASA Eclipse Project
Al Bowers
Al Bowers <bow...@orville.dfrc.nasa.gov> writes:
> Tony Pucillo <ae...@mail.idt.net> writes:
> > Actually, it was a pleasure to read something so thoroughly laid out.
> > Good work, and I AM wondering how you get access to all this info, but
> > won't ask.
> Being the Chief Engineer on the project probably helps. But in the
> government, I wouldn't count on it.
FWIW, Eclipse had their high Speed taxi test Saturday, Dec 13. There
were some minor surprises, but none that cause the project a problem.
We're still anaylyzing data before we go fly.
[for those coming late, Eclipse is a space launch idea by the Kelly
Space folks to aerotow a space launcher like a sailplane. To
demonstrate the idea, the USAF has provided a C-141 as a tow plane and
a QF-106A to be towed (with a little NASA help). High speed taxi (up
to 140 knots) was the last major milestone before flight.]
Al Bowers
Michael S. Kelly
Reading these postings, I had to weigh in. Kelly Space & Technology,
Inc., conducted the towed flight of the JD-2 Dyke Delta on 9 September
1997. It wasn't much of a test, really -- more of a photo op. We were
able to reach an altitude of about 2,300 feet, but the temperature was
shooting up faster than the planes could gain speed (the flight was
conducted at sunrise). It worked quite well.
Yes, we've talked to John Dyke a fair bit over the past couple of years,
and had wanted to get him involved in a towed demonstration. I guess
the situation alluded to earlier didn't allow that. His plane is a
marvel of packaging, and KST has been interested in its configuration
for our Eclipse family of launch vehicles for some time.
Many thanks to Al Bowers for spreading the news on the KST Eclipse. And
many thanks to him and the rest of the Dryden and AFFTC crews for the
beautiful towed taxi test of last Saturday. But Al, when did it become
the *NASA* Eclipse program???? (Very flattering)
Happy Holidays, everyone.
Mike Kelly
Al Bowers
"Michael S. Kelly" <mke...@empirenet.com> writes:
> Reading these postings, I had to weigh in.
Thanks for commenting Mike. For those who were not aware, Mike is the
President of KST and the tow idea is his. And the Dyke Delta tow work
was done by Mike's guys...
> Many thanks to Al Bowers for spreading the news on the KST Eclipse. And
> many thanks to him and the rest of the Dryden and AFFTC crews for the
> beautiful towed taxi test of last Saturday. But Al, when did it become
> the *NASA* Eclipse program???? (Very flattering)
In the original post, I tried to make it clear that the program
management really resides with Mike Kelly (KST) and Ken Hampsten
(USAF, Air Force Research Labs), I guess I didn't do that very well.
AFFTC (Air Force Flight Test Center, managed by Mark Watson) and NASA
DFRC (Dryden Flight Research Center, managed by Carol Reukauf) are
partners in the present phase of the program, the Eclipse Experimental
Demonstration.
I'm only the chief engineer (I'm the responsible party for research)
for the NASA _part_ of the program. I guess that means I can't speak
for everyone (and in fact, I probably don't even convey the "official"
NASA message very either). I defer to the principals: Mike Kelly and
Ken Hampsten, though I work for neither.
Al Bowers ...just Chief Engineer for the NASA Eclipse Project...