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ABOUT FACTS NET
Things
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X-Planes
| In the early years after World War II the U.S. started to use X planes. These planes were mostly prototypes and were to be used to test new military aircraft which would allow us to stay ahead of the Russians in the arms race. This is a brief look at the X-Planes. |
Source: NASA unless otherwise noted
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The X-1 was a very important plane. Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier for the first time while flying it. The picture on the left shows the Bell Aircraft Corporation X-1-1 (#46-062) in flight. The shock wave pattern in the exhaust plume is visible. The X-1 series aircraft were air-launched from a modified Boeing B-29 or B-50 Superfortress bombers. |
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This 1952 photograph shows the X-2 #2 with a collapsed nose landing gear after landing on the first glide flight at Edwards Air Force Base. The aircraft pitched at landing, slid along its main skid and contacted the ground with the right wingtip bumper skid causing it to break off. The nose wheel had collapsed upon contacting the ground. |
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In this NACA High-Speed Flight Station photograph, the X-3 Stiletto is seen on the lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base. The X-3 Stiletto was a single-place jet aircraft with a slender fuselage and a long tapered nose, manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company. The X-3's primary mission was to investigate the design features of an aircraft suitable for sustained supersonic speeds, which included the first use of titanium in major airframe components. It was delivered to the NACA High-Speed Flight Station in August of 1954 after some Douglas and Air Force evaluation testing. |
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In this 1950 straight-on view of the NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station's X-4 research aircraft, the horizontal tailless design is quite evident. The X-4 Bantam, a single-place, low swept-wing, semi-tailless aircraft, was designed and built by Northrop Aircraft, Inc. It had no horizontal tail surfaces and its mission was to obtain in-flight data on the stability and control of semi-tailless aircraft at high subsonic speeds. |
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The Bell, X-5 was flight tested at the NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station (now the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California) from 1952 to 1955. The X-5 was the first aircraft capable of sweeping its wings in flight. It helped provide data about wing-sweep at angles of up to 60 degrees at subsonic and transonic speeds. |
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The Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation (Convair) XF-92A Dart was America’s first delta wing aircraft. It was built as a test bed for a proposed interceptor that never materialized. The XF-92A was then continued to test the delta-wing concept. The delta wing’s large area (425 square feet), thin airfoil cross section, low weight, and structural strength made a great combination for a supersonic aircraft. The aircraft was powered by an Allison J33-A-29 turbojet engine with an afterburner. Convair and the U.S. Air Force flew the XF-92A from 1948 to 1953. After the Air Force’s plans for an interceptor failed to materialize, the NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station, which had supplied engineering, instrumentation, and operational assistance to the Air Force during its flights, took over the flight test program in 1953. A. Scott Crossfield flew all 25 NACA flights of the NACA’s XF-92A program over a six-month test period. |
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The X-15 was a rocket-powered aircraft 50 ft long with a wingspan of 22 ft. It was a missile-shaped vehicle with an unusual wedge-shaped vertical tail, thin stubby wings, and unique fairings that extended along the side of the fuselage. The X-15 weighed about 14,000 lb empty and approximately 34,000 lb at launch. The XLR-99 rocket engine, manufactured by Thiokol Chemical Corp., was pilot controlled and was capable of developing 57,000 lb of rated thrust (actual thrust reportedly climbed to 60,000 lb). North American Aviation built three X-15 aircraft for the program. |
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The figure standing on the ramp provides a relative size comparison
with the XB-70A aircraft. Six large nozzles for the General Electric engines
are shown between and below the two large vertical tails.
The XB-70A, capable of flying three times the speed of sound, was the world's largest experimental aircraft in the 1960s. Two XB-70A aircraft were built. The number one XB-70A was flown by the NASA Flight Research Center (now NASA Dryden), Edwards, California, in a high speed flight research program. The second aircraft was lost in a mid-air collision on June 8, 1966 with a NASA F-104. |
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Two X-29 aircraft, featuring one of the most unusual designs in aviation
history, flew at the Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility (now the Dryden
Flight Research Center, Edwards, California) from 1984 to 1992. The fighter-sized
X-29 technology demonstrators explored several concepts and technologies
including: the use of advanced composites in aircraft construction; variable-camber
wing surfaces; a unique forward- swept wing and its thin supercritical
airfoil; strakes; close-coupled canards; and a computerized fly-by-wire
flight control system used to maintain control of the otherwise unstable
aircraft. Research results showed that the configuration of forward-swept
wings, coupled with movable canards, gave pilots excellent control response
at angles of attack of up to 45 degrees. |
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The X-31 Enhanced Fighter Maneuverability (EFM) demonstrator flew at the Ames- Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, California (re designated the Dryden Flight Research Center in 1994) from February 1992 until 1995 and before that at the Air Force’s Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. The goal of the project was to provide design information for the next generation of highly maneuverable fighter aircraft. This program demonstrated the value of using thrust vectoring (directing engine exhaust flow) coupled with an advanced flight control system to provide controlled flight to very high angles of attack. |
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The X-33 is a wedged-shaped sub scale technology demonstrator prototype of a potential future Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) that Lockheed Martin has dubbed VentureStar. The company hopes to develop VentureStar early this century. Through demonstration flight and ground research, NASA’s X-33 program will provide the information needed for industry representatives such as Lockheed Martin to decide whether to proceed with the development of a full-scale, commercial RLV program. The X-33 was later cancelled. |
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The NASA/Boeing X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft program successfully demonstrated the tailless fighter design using advanced technologies to improve the maneuverability and survivability of possible future fighter aircraft. The program met or exceeded all project goals. |
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The X-37 is expected to be about as big as two minivans and will fit into the Space Shuttle cargo bay. Orbital flights cancelled. |
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The X-38 Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) research project is designed to develop the technology for a prototype emergency crew return vehicle, or lifeboat, for the International Space Station. The project is also intended to develop a crew return vehicle design that could be modified for other uses, such as a joint U.S. and international human spacecraft that could be launched on the French Ariane-5 Booster. The X-38 project was later cancelled. |
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The Boeing-built X-40A is on loan from the Air Force, which flew it
once in 1998. NASA is using the X-40A to test the shape, guidance, and
other systems for the X-37, which eventually will be launched into space
in a Space Shuttle and autonomously return to Earth to test technologies
for reusable launch vehicles. |
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X-43. Hyper-X program managers hope to demonstrate "air-breathing" engine technologies that could ultimately be applied in vehicle types from hypersonic (Mach 5 and above) aircraft to reusable space launchers. By comparison, the high-flying SR-71 reconnaissance airplane, which flies more than Mach 3, is the fastest air-breathing aircraft to date. |
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The Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) System Demonstration Program is a joint DARPA/Air Force/Boeing effort to demonstrate the technical feasibility for a UCAV system to conduct various strike missions within the emerging global command and control architecture. The demonstrations within the program will provide the information necessary to enable decision-makers to determine whether it is technically and fiscally prudent to continue effects-based development of a UCAV to perform its proposed missions. The Dryden Flight Research Center role in the UCAV program has been to provide technical expertise and hanger space for the UCAV X-45A under a 1999 agreement with DARPA and The Boeing Company. The X-45A is the first of two UCAV demonstration versions that will be used in advance of fielding operational systems around 2008. |
There are other X projects and here is a list of the ones missing from above. This list is NOT compiled from NASA information but different sources and is correct as best as I can determine, but I could be wrong. There may be more X-projnects and indeed it seems so, but information on the rest is not available:
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