On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 20:43:53 -0600, in a place far, far away, Brian
Thorn made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such
a way as to indicate that:

NASA did try to help Boeing/Lockheed/McD in that area with the High
Speed Civil Transport project.

With that kind of help, they didn't need hindrance. Like X-33, it was
a billion dollars down the drain for a flawed concept.

Then what kind of help should NASA have been providing? What should
NASA have been doing in aeronautics in the last decade that it didn't
do?

It should have been performing research in significantly reducing, if
not eliminating, shock, instead of funding Son of Concorde.

http://www.techcentralstation.com/102403B.html

Did Boeing really need NASA's help to make an A380-class airliner?
Or Sonic Cruiser?

No, and no.