About the Real X-15
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The North American X-15 was a single-place rocket-powered experimental aircraft built in the late 1950s for NASA (NACA), the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy to conduct test flight at extremely high speeds and altitudes and to obtain data on the effects of such flight conditions on the aircraft and on the pilot. The X-15 was capable of and achieved high speed and altitude records such as Mach 6.7 or 6629 fps (more than twice as fast as a speeding bullet) and 354,200 feet. Three X-15 rocket planes were built by North American Aviation (NAA) for the X-15 research program which succeeded at demonstrating the ability of pilots to fly rocket-propelled aircraft out of the earth's atmosphere and back to precision landing. Today, the X-15 can be considered history's first reusable spacecraft. After being dropped at a high altitude from a modified B-52 carrier airplane and propelled by its million-horsepower rocket engine at several times the speed of sound, the X-15 would fly to the edge of space, burn all its fuel, perform reentry into the atmosphere and finally glide its way back to land on a dry lakebed in the California desert. The X-15-1, equipped with the "interim" Reaction Motors XLR-11 rocket engines, was rolled out in October 1958, and was transferred to Edwards Air Force Base. |
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Its first captive flight (while the X-15 is attached to the carrier airplane) occurred in March 1959 followed by its first glide flight in June of the same year. On January 23, 1960, the X-15-1, with NAA test pilot Scott Crossfield, successfully completed its first powered flight attaining Mach 2.53 and 66,844 feet with the XLR-11 rocket engines. In February 1961, the X-15-1 was returned to North American Aviation for conversion to its design-mission configuration (XLR-99 engine), after completing 21 flights with the XLR-11 engines. The aircraft completed 60 flights in this configuration between August 1961 and October 1968. NASA pilot Bill Dana flew the X-15-1 for the last time on October 24, 1968. The No. 1 aircraft completed 81 flights during the entire X-15 program. In November 1960, the X-15-2 became the first X-15 aircraft to test the mighty 60-000 pound XLR-99 rocket engine in flight, after completing nine missions with the XLR-11 engines. The X-15-2 arrived at Edwards in April 1959 and completed 31 flights in its design-mission configuration before it was extensively damaged during an emergency landing in November 1962. It was later decided to rebuild the airplane as a modified "advanced" version of the X-15, with a longer fuselage and external propellant tanks. The "extended performance" X-15A-2 was rolled out in February 1964. The aircraft was specifically designed to allow longer engine burn times and to attain hypersonic velocities in the range of 8000 feet per second at an altitude of 100,000 feet. In October 1967, Air Force pilot Pete Knight took the X-15A-2 to Mach 6.7 (4520 mph), the fastest manned aircraft flight recorded to date (if we exclude the Space Shuttle). The X-15A-2 completed 22 flights between June 1964 and October 1967. The X-15-3 was delivered to Edwards in the summer of 1959. The aircraft was seriously damaged in June 1960 when its ammonia and hydrogen peroxide tanks exploded while testing the new XLR-99 engine on the ground. Pilot Scott Crossfield was uninjured and the aircraft was repaired. NASA pilot Neil Armstrong flew the X-15-3 for the first time with the XLR-99 engine in December 1961. In August 1963, NASA pilot Joe Walker climbed at the edge of space and set an altitude record of 354,200 feet in the No. 3 aircraft, the highest flight of the X-15 research program. The X-15-3 completed 65 missions between December 1961 and November 1967. Sadly, the X-15-3 was lost in November 1967 after an electrical short in research instrumentation caused a general systems malfunction. The airplane entered a hypersonic spin, descended in an inverted dive at almost Mach 4 and 65,000 feet and finally broke up and crashed, taking the life of Air Force pilot Michael Adams. Together, the three aircraft completed 199 flights during a nine-year period, the 200th one being cancelled several times in November and December, 1968. It was the end of the X-15 program. After almost 40 years, the X-15 still holds impressive speed and altitude records. It was one of the most successful research aircraft tested at Edwards Air Force Base. Twelve extremely skilled test pilots flew the X-15: Michael Adams (USAF), Neil Armstrong (NASA), Scott Crossfield (NAA), Bill Dana (NASA), Joe Engle (USAF), Pete Knight (USAF), Jack McKay (NASA), Forrest Peterson (USN), Bob Rushworth (USAF), Milt Thompson (NASA), Joe Walker (NASA) and Bob White (USAF). Today, the X-15-1 hangs from the ceiling in the main gallery of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. The X-15A-2 is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force (Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio). You can find many excellent books and publications about the X-15 research program. Pictures and movie clips are also available on a number of web sites. |
