I had a sport model of it. Here's a diagram image. Based on a BT-55.

I have TONS of NAVAHO photo's.


Dave F.

A few sample pics . . .

If there is any interest, I can upload all my NAVAHO data to Dropbox.

Dave F.

Thank you--a BT-55 size one sounds appropriate (as regards its mass per wing area) to glide well enough. Also, today's easy availability of laser-cut scarfed tubes--for the air intake tubes--would make such models easier to build.

I hope they've repaired it (it got knocked off its tilted mount during a storm and dinged up). It's the only existing Navaho (and if memory serves, only one of the turbojet-powered Navaho X-10 test vehicles survived its test program). Also:

Gary Moore, a late friend of mine who worked for Bell Telephone at Cape Canaveral, told me that the Navaho display missile was made at least partially from missile parts that they often found hanging on the phone and power lines after failed launches. (He also described how they drank the Redstone alcohol-water fuel [150 proof vodka, I think it was], even after the Patrick AFB base commander had purple food coloring added to the fuel to make it visually unappealing.)

It was more than "dinged up" . . .

http://www.aerospaceprojectsreview.com/blog/?p=2755

Dave F.

That thing is WAY beyond "dinged up".
It's TRASHED.
Put in in the scrap heap where it belongs.
Some things are not worth saving...that is one.

The pictures I saw (they looked like it wasn't long after sunrise) weren't as bad--it might have gotten blown around more, once the guy wires had all broken and/or gone slack) after they were taken. I provided some material on the early Space Shuttle designs to Dennis Jenkins (who took the pictures you posted) for one of the later editions--the second or third one--of his Space Shuttle history book, and the Navaho figured prominently in them. Also:

Since it's the only complete Navaho in existence, it should be restored and put on display either indoors or--if outdoor display is necessary--in a horizontal position (which would be preferable for indoor display as well). The flight vehicles were prepared in horizontal position on Pads 9 and 10 before being raised to vertical position for fueling and launching). The vehicle's bends and dents could be hammered out (not unlike how dented brass musical instruments are straightened out), then heat-treated and backed inside by composite matting (glass/epoxy, carbon fiber/epoxy, or Kevlar/epoxy).

Restore it. If done correctly, the damage will be a blessing in disguise. As can be seen in the images, there is fairly severe internal corrosion. Since a restoration should include disassembly, they can take care of the corrosion and end up with a display that can outlive our grandchildren. Farm it out to an automotive restoration company if need be. Some of those shops do amazing work and some are very good with aluminum.

Yes! Also, there are likely such companies who would also love to use the Navaho restoration job as an unusual, attention-grabbing advertisement of their capabilities. If there are anti-corrosion "dip" formulations for aluminum (I think there are, as the British Vickers VC10 jetliner's airframe parts were anti-corrosion treated because of its all-location operating capability; also, I recall seeing pictures in a 1963 "Popular Science" article that showed car parts being dipped in a mud-like, electrically-deposited anti-corrosion compound), the Navaho's straightened and annealed parts could be so treated before they were re-assembled.