North American NAC-60

North American NAC-60
Side view of a North American NAC-60
Role	Supersonic transport
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	North American Aviation
Status	Canceled in 1967

The North American NAC-60 was the first American supersonic transport (SST) project. The development took place in the 1960s as part of a government-funded design competition to build an American SST as the joint Anglo-French Concorde and the short-serviced Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 was underway. The design, however, was rejected in favor of the Lockheed and Boeing designs, allowing them to get further study.

Design

The North American NAC-60 had a set of canards at the nose, but this was essentially a scaled-up B-70 Valkyrie. These would provide extra stability or control, replacing the tail. As the NAC-60 was an SST, no horizontal stabilizer was needed, while the Concorde it was meant to compete with had a wing specially designed for both subsonic and supersonic flight, which, as a result, did not need a canard.

Specifications (North American NAC-60)

Data from FLIGHT international

General characteristics

• Crew: up to 4 flight crew
• Capacity: 187 passengers / 35,000 lb (15,876 kg) payload
• Length: 195 ft (59 m)
• Wingspan: 121 ft (37 m)
• Height: 48 ft (15 m)
• Max takeoff weight: 480,000 lb (217,724 kg)
• Powerplant: 4 × afterburning turbojet engines

Performance

• Maximum speed: 1,520 kn (1,750 mph, 2,820 km/h)
• Maximum speed: Mach 2.65
• Range: 3,389 nmi (3,900 mi, 6,276 km)