Scott Lowther Books

The famous B-52 Stratofortress has been in service with the USAF for more than 65 years and its iconic shape is known and recognised all over the world. Yet the B-52 and its predecessor, the B-47 Stratojet, started out looking very different indeed. Each aircraft was the end product of a lengthy design process which saw numerous configurations studied – with plenty of diversions taken and missteps made along the way.In Boeing B-47 Stratojet and B-52 Origins and Evolution, aerospace engineer Scott Lowther reviews and explains the many different projects put forward for these two iconic aircraft, including a wide variety of rare and forgotten designs.Providing full-page diagrams, a wealth of new artwork and accurate data, the book will be useful for model makers interested in new and unique projects, aerospace engineers curious about the process of design evolution and those interested in these fascinating aircraft.

The threat posed by the Soviet Union throughout the postwar period coincided with an explosion of innovation and can-do attitude among America's aircraft manufacturers. Challenging requirements and experimentation resulted in a huge variety of designs for aircraft powered by nuclear reaction, aircraft capable of flying faster than Mach 5, advanced bombers able to land and take-off from the surface of the ocean, VTOL fighters and bombers, and many others. Aerospace engineer Scott Lowther collects some of the most radical and beyond-the-state-of-the-art 'secret projects' in this - the second volume of his US projects series.

During the early stages of the cold war the USAF operated a huge fleet of strategic bombers – but these were all subsonic and development of high-speed surface-to-air missiles and jet interceptors made them increasingly vulnerable. America’s Strategic Air Command urgently needed new aircraft capable of flying higher and faster than anything that the opposition could field. Building a bomber able to carry an appreciable bomb load at speeds above Mach 1 for long distances was a real challenge and American designers were forced to rapidly evolve their designs to keep pace with technological advancements. The result was a vast number of supersonic bomber projects, ranging from viable proposals which became real aircraft, such as the B-58 and B-1, to incredibly ambitious concepts. Using a wealth of illustrations, aerospace engineer Scott Lowther explores this unique period of aviation history in US Supersonic Bomber Projects .