Check out this article at RetroMechanix.com on the Bell D188, a VTOL fighter proposal for the USN that preceded the D188A/XF-109:



The article is accompanied by an image gallery featuring 160 images reproducing the original proposal brochure and color photos of the desktop model. Many high resolution drawings and illustrations are featured throughout, along with a detailed technical description of every aspect of the aircraft, an unusual beast powered by 11 jet engines(!) More documents on this design will be featured in Part 2 of this article in the near future. Enjoy!

-Jared

Nice one Jared. Great seeing the brochure for this project. A Mach 2+ VTOL aircraft, amazing. I liked the recommendation that the aircraft carrier had to install 25" [thick?] plate to prevent damage from the thrust.
All the best.
tim

The second part of the article on the Bell D188 is now up at RetroMechanix.com:



It covers a wind tunnel report on the design and features 18 images, including several nice photos and general arrangement drawings of the model, which differs slightly from the finalized design in the proposal brochure.

Continuing the Bell VTOL aircraft theme, there is an article up on Bell VTOL Aircraft Projects of October 1955:



This summarizes a brochure highlighting various Bell VTOL aircraft studies and features excellent general arrangement drawings and artist's impressions of several projects, including the Bell D139 shown above.

Finally, there is a short article on the Bell Aircraft Corporation Twenty-First Annual Report of 1956:



It's accompanied by several nice color photos and illustrations excerpted from the document.

Some improvements have also been made to the site, with several ads being removed and the right hand sidebar being de-cluttered, hopefully improving the load time. I hope you find the material of interest.

-Jared