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Trying to chase down this rumor. Here's more source material:

http://www.noticetoairmen.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-44.html

Joey02-01-2003, 04:59 AM
Those of us who grew up in the 70's probably watched the television series "The Six-Million Dollar Man". If you remember the opening sequence, you certainly remember the footage of the horrendous crash of an odd looking aircraft (The aircraft which Lee Major's character, Steve Austin, was allegedly piloting). What many people DON'T know is that this aircraft was real, as was the footage of the crash.

The M2-F2 was an early NASA experiment in the concept of lifting bodies. The "Flying Bathtub" as it was nicknamed was designed by Northrop, and first flown on July 02, 1966.

On it's first flight it was mated to and airdropped from a B-52 mothership, from an altitude of 45,000 feet. It attained a speed of just under 452 mph, with a flight duration of 217 seconds.

It went on to perform a total of 16 flights, with 4 different test pilots.
It's 16th and final flight occurred on May 10, 1967. The pilot on that fateful day was Bruce Peterson.

After being airdropped by the mothership from 45,000 feet, the M2-F2 managed a speed of 402 mph, and all seemed well. But, on Peterson's final approach, the aircraft began a series of violent rolling oscillations. Once he recovered control, he was no longer lined up with the runway, and became concerned that a rescue helicopter, hovering beside the runway, was too close. He attempted to realign himself with the runway, and apparently deployed the landing gear too late. The gear was only partially deployed when he contacted the runway. The vehicle began a violent series of rolls and tumbled end over end , finally coming to rest upside down. This was the horrific accident that was forever etched in our minds by "The Six-Million Dollar Man".

The M2-F2 was destroyed. Bruce Peterson was seriously injured, losing the sight in one eye, which ended his career as a test pilot.

Peterson did, however, stay on at NASA, and after his recovery, became an engineer on the digital fly-by-wire program in the late 60's and early 70's. After leaving NASA, he became safety officer for the Northrop B-2 Spirit Program.

Justin02-02-2003, 01:56 PM
Joey,

Do you have any additional details on what the objective of the program was? Was it an aircraft built soley for research purposes?

Joey02-02-2003, 07:35 PM
Hi Justin,

My understanding is that the program was specifically targeted at building and testing lifting bodies and focused on the production of a reusable "space plane". The M2-F1 was originally a plywood mock-up that was towed behind (I believe) a '47 ford, and later by a C-47, to prove that the shape of the body could actually produce enough lift to keep it airborne.

One thing that the test pilots noticed in the M2-F2 was that while it did provide lift, the descents (when airdropped) were quite steep, and the approaches to landing were quite fast. It seems apparent that, while these early aircraft were indeed lifting bodies, there was much work to do.

It should be noted that our present-day Space Shuttles are, by and large, lifting bodies, and probably owe at least some credit to the M2-F2 (and later the M2-F3).

Somewhat similar is the SR-71, which is itself a lifting body. While it certainly has wings, a large portion of it's lift is generated by the shape of the entire vehicle, not just the wings.

Joey