Posted on 09/28/2003 9:43:36 AM PDT by BenLurkin
LOS ANGELES - One was a rocket plane that flew at the edge of space and with blistering speed. The other was a series of odd-shaped aircraft designed to fly and land without wings. Both research programs are direct ancestors of today's space shuttle, making space travel in reusable, winged vehicles possible, and contributed much to aeronautical knowledge in general.
A joint Air Force and NASA research program, the X-15 is considered one of the most successful ever, completing 199 flights from 1959 to 1968 using the skies and dry lake beds of Edwards Air Force Base.
A. Scott Crossfield was the first to pilot the X-15, eventually logging 14 flights. He called it "one of the best airplanes we ever had in the research stable."
"It was going to kill me or I was going to break that bronc ," he said. "I won."
Crossfield joined four of the six remaining X-15 pilots in recounting their exploits before an appreciative crowd at the Society of Experimental Test Pilots' annual symposium Saturday at the Westin Bonaventure in Los Angeles.
"When I finished the program, I was a protagonist for another research airplane," said retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert M. White, who piloted 16 flights in the X-15.
Former Air Force Test Pilot and current state senator William J. "Pete" Knight is still known as "the fastest man alive" for his record-setting flight to Mach 6.7 - 4,520 mph - in October 1967.
The flight was to be a precursor for future tests to Mach 7 and beyond, and tested a new ablative surface intended to dissipate the intense heat of such speeds.
Although the flight seemed to go well from the cockpit, upon landing Knight and the researchers discovered that the ablative coating had failed, badly burning the aircraft.
"It was like you took a blowtorch in there," Knight said of the damage he surveyed in the rear of the airplane.
Fortunately, the damage did not hinder Knight's flight performance.
"I didn't know I had problems on that flight," he recalled. "It was a successful flight as far as we knew."
Former Air Force test pilot Maj. Gen. Joe Engle is in the unique position of having piloted the X-15 and the space shuttle, effectively bridging both ends of the hypersonic research program.
When he piloted the space shuttle Columbia to a landing at Rogers Dry Lake on the second mission, he "fulfilled the hypersonic promise" begun with the X-15, said historian Richard P. Hallion , moderator for the panel discussion.
The X-15 was truly a stepping stone for the shuttle, Engle said, with numerous similarities. Both made unpowered, glide landings, and had similar landing characteristics.
"The two were closely related from a performance standpoint and a piloting standpoint as well," he said. "(The X-15) gave us a gigantic step of confidence."
During the development of the shuttle, some argued that the spacecraft would never be able to successfully land without an auxiliary engine. The data provided by the X-15 proved that it could be done, thus eliminating the complications such an engine would add.
"I really feel lucky to have been on both programs, " Engle said. "I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world."
Retired NASA research pilot William H. Dana piloted the final X-15 flight Oct. 24, 1968, before continuing to tackle the wingless lifting bodies.
"Their performance was nothing compared to the X-15," he said.
While not as sexy as the sleek, black stiletto of the X-15, the bulbous lifting bodies provided valuable research into using shape to successfully generate lift.
NASA engineer Dale Reed, known as the "Father of the Lifting Bodies," mimicked the pioneering spirit of the Wright Brothers with his aircraft, especially the first one, the M2-F1.
He was able to convince Paul Bikle , then director of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB, to give the strange vehicle a chance.
"Paul Bikle basically sponsored us with his coffee fund," Reed said.
The $30,000 mock-up was completed in four months by an enthusiastic crew who labored behind a curtain in one corner of the hanger. A sign outside read "Wright Bicycle Shop."
Another X-15 pilot, Milton O. Thompson, was an early supporter and made the first flights of the vehicle, towed behind a car on the lake bed. These flights were important to solving stability problems while at only three feet above the ground, Reed said.
Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Cecil W. Powell flew later versions of the lifting bodies, including the X-24. His meticulous preparation for these flights was to arrive very early in the morning, sit in the cockpit, and repeatedly fly the entire flight in his mind.
"We're building a gigantic mosaic" of aviation history, Powell said. "I just feel fortunate I can maybe add one small piece."
Saturday's forum with members of the X-15 and lifting body programs was one in a series of oral history panels celebrating the Centennial of Flight at this year's symposium.
Others included the men who first broke the sound barrier, the pilots of top secret programs such as the F-117 and U-2 and the astronauts of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space programs.
Lifting bodies, wingless reentry vehicles. X-24a, M2F1 "flying bathtub", M2-F2
HL-10
X-24b
X-38
Dale Reed, who nurtured an idea into reality using the office coffee fund.
Thanks!
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