Sunday, June 5, 2022

The hypersonic North American X-15 reached a maximum speed of 4,520 mph, over 2,000 meters per second. It first flew in 1959, 73 years ago.

 


8 comments:

  1. Sixty-three years ago, not seventy-three.

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  2. What is the stall speed? Or does that apply to rocket propelled aircraft?

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    1. Yes, stall speed applies to the X-15. Normal landing speed was supposed to be 200 knots. On the first flight, malfunctions caused landing at about 145 knots. So, the gliding stall speed would be close to that.

      SierraFoot dot org has nice information on the X-15 if you are interested.

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  3. As a kid into my teenage years in the 70's I had a autographed photo from Joe Engle on one of his test flights. My dad was USAF and somehow got the photo.

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  4. I had an Estes modem rocket off the X-15 in the mid 70s. Mostly plastic, but very cool and operable.

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    1. Model. I hit publish too quick.

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    2. IIRC, I made my own versions from a model. One blew the engine out the tail and pulled a 'chute with it. The other popped the nose off to release a 'chute. Test shots were vertical, were it became obvious I needed a very short duration burn to be able to launch it anywhere near horizontal and be able to find it.

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  5. Got to wander around one at Edwards AFB during an open house in 1967. My dad was stationed at George AFB in Victorville at the time. I remember it being bigger than I thought it would be.

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