21 April 1961. USAF Major Robert Michael “Bob” White piloted the X-15-2, 56-6671 research aeroplane from Edwards Air Force Base in California on its first flight at full throttle, reaching a speed of 3,074 mph at an altitude of 79,000 feet, before climbing to 105,100 feet.
Absolutely amazing plane for its day. Think it would be particularly difficult to design and build the X-15 today with how things function in the corporate aerospace industry.
ReplyDeleteIts actual existence is owed in part to a very not top heavy engineering culture.
When I was a kid in the early 60s, the X-15 was a big deal!
ReplyDeleteI fear that we will never see their like again. Steve_in_Ottawa
ReplyDeleteThis was supposed to be the origin of our space program. Sort of an early shuttle. Rumor is they built three of them and one skipped off into space.
ReplyDeleteIf memory serves me, he was awarded astronaut wings.
ReplyDeleteThe guys who flew those things had big brass ones. My brother had a model of the X15 but I have no idea what happened to it.
ReplyDeleteFirecrackers and model airplanes were (sometimes..) made for each other.
DeleteIn October '67 William J Knight got it up to 4,520 MPH. It survived but the friction heating did a lot of damage.
ReplyDeleteScott Crossfield recounted in his autobiography about his last flight as the civilian test pilot for NA before NASA took delivery.
ReplyDeleteThe engine throttles were right *there*, he could reach out, flip a switch and easily hit Mach 3 or 4, but it wasn't the job, that was supposed to be for later NASA pilots, so he controlled himself and stayed on plan, kept it below Mach 2.
56-6671 was the No. 2 airframe. It was rebuilt into the X15-A2, with an extended fuselage and external tanks for high speed research. A great book is Milton Thompson's "Flying into Space". Milt also wrote a book on the Lifting Bodies.
ReplyDeleteMilt Thompson was a relatively unheralded hero of early manned spaceflight, along with Bill Dana.
Bill Dana?
Delete"My nang Jose Jimenez..."
Saw one land in 64. Unforgettable
ReplyDeleteProof, if you needed it, that diversity isn't our strength.
ReplyDeleteNot that there was much chance to prove it
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