Manufacturer: Boeing / Learjet

Model: unknown

Name: Hummingbird

Type: VTOL commuter/transport

Date:

Status: Operational

Country: United States of America

Service: U.S. Air Force

Designation: CV-24A

Synopsis:
Elaboration:

What if Bell/Boeing's V-22 had not been the first operational VTOL? What if Boeing had teamed up with Learjet instead to offer an heir to the old X-19 concept and make it work as a liaison/VIP transport? This is what the fake advertisement above is all about.

I took the photo of a Gates C-21A Learjet, removed the engines, cut off the wings and made two sets of them in different sizes (because of perspective), modified the wingtip tanks into tilting engine pods, and created the propellers from scratch. I also added some length to the fuselage and retracted the nose wheel.

Original picture can be seen here below right for comparison and was found on this web page: [link]


Viewers' comments:
  • Purée comme à chaque fois c'est tellement bien fait que on s'y tromperait. Airbus & co passent à coté d'un excellent commercial XB (ItalianDragon)
  • Steph...good stuff as usual! (Mimikios)
  • Super Sweet Thumbs Up i could just picture the Humming Bird in Life Flight livery, rushing people to the Hospital! (Cobra)
  • How about "There is one born every minute.  Place a deposit for yours today" (royabulgaf)
  • I would definitely own one. (Commander-jao)
  • Incredible!!! This is the most impressive of all, I think. (Stingray)
  • So perfect I have to check what the source is, or the sources are (Tophe)
  • Beautiful stuff Stephane.  I've always loved the X-19 and this is definitely a logical extrapolation of the theme. (Maverick)
  • X-19's heir apparent? (GTX)

My comments:

Quite so.  Thumbs Up

The name "Hummingbird" was both the inhouse monicker that Curtiss gave to the X-100 prototype and the name of a USAF project on VTOL aircraft in the early 1960s, so the name sounded just perfect (even more so since Boeing later used that selfsame name for the A160/Q-18 unmanned helicopter).

And yes, the idea from the very start was to come up with a cross between a Learjet and an X-19... Glad you noticed!