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NASA Conducts Airborne Science Aboard Zeppelin Airship: equipped with two imaging instruments enabling remote sensing and atmospheric science measurements not previously practical. Pre-flight checkout of airship flight systems and instruments. ARC-2009-ACD09-0218-006

A hose team fights a simulated fire in the hangar bay

Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Williams, assigned to Helicopter Sea

A German and an American pilot enjoy the traditional beer after arriving at the air base for exercise Coronet Sail

Chart - Visual Acuity - Gemini Experiment - CA

A pilot from the 22nd Fighter Squadron, Spangdahlem AB, Germany inspects the underside of an F-16 Fighting Falcon as part of the pre-flight inspection before an upcoming mission. Exact Date Shot Unknown

U.S. Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft assigned to

X-15 pilots, NASA history collection

Fire protection specialists from the 117th Civil Engineering

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A group of fighter jets sitting on top of an airport tarmac. Nasa research aircraft fleet x-31 f-15.

Pilot Neil Armstrong in the X-15 #1 cockpit

Pilot Neil Armstrong in the X-15 #1 cockpit

Expedition 15 Crewmembers and Spaceflight Participant pose for a photo in the US Lab

Photographs of X-15 Pilot Captain Joe H. Engle, USAF, and a X-15 Aircraft

Expedition 15 Crewmembers and Spaceflight Participant pose for a photo in the US Lab

X-15 Studies at Langley, 1958. Public domain image of NASA aircraft.

X-15 and XB-70 parked on NASA ramp

SR-71 on Ramp with Flight Crew. Public domain image of NASA aircraft.

X-15 pilots clown around. Experimental NASA aircraft photograph.

description

Summary

Photo Description: (1966) The X-15 pilots clown around in front of the #2 aircraft. From left to right: USAF Capt. Joseph Engle, USAF Maj. Robert Rushworth, NASA test pilot John "Jack" McKay, USAF Maj. William "Pete" Knight, NASA test pilot Milton Thompson, and NASA test pilot William Dana. First flown in 1959 from the NASA High Speed Flight Station (later renamed the Dryden Flight Research Center), the rocket powered X-15 was developed to provide data on aerodynamics, structures, flight controls and the physiological aspects of high speed, high altitude flight. Three were built by North American Aviation for NASA and the U.S. Air Force. They made a total of 199 flights during a highly successful research program lasting almost ten years, following which its speed and altitude records for winged aircraft remained unbroken until the Space Shuttle first returned from earth orbit in 1981. The X-15's main rocket engine provided thrust for the first 80 to 120 seconds of a 10 to 11 minute flight; the aircraft then glided to a 200 mph landing. The X-15 reached altitudes of 354,200 feet (67.08 miles) and a speed of 4,520 mph (Mach 6.7)...UID: SPD-DRYDEN-E-14182.Image # : E-14182

The X-planes are a series of experimental United States aircraft and rockets, used to test and evaluate new technologies and aerodynamic concepts. They have an X designator, which indicates the research mission within the US system of aircraft designations. The first, the Bell X-1, became well known in 1947 after it became the first aircraft to break the sound barrier in level flight. Most of the X-planes have been operated by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) or, later, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), often in conjunction with the United States Air Force. The majority of X-plane testing has occurred at Edwards Air Force Base. Some of the X-planes have been well publicized, while others have been developed in secrecy. Most X-planes are not expected to go into full-scale production.

NASA Photo Collection

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Tags

aviation usaf aerospace joe engel engel 56 6671 joseph engle north american aviation pete knight x plane rocketplane experimental flight x 15 a national aeronautics and space administration usaf 56 6671 manned spaceflight bill dana af 56 6671 jack mckay mckay knight x 15 a 2 william dana naa thiokol xlr 99 milt thompson dana milton thompson airplane us air force united states air force thompson reaction motors spaceflight aircraft william pete knight rushworth robert rushworth x 15 reaction motors xlr 99 north american x 15 x 15 pilots clown usaf maj nasa test pilot william dana nasa test pilot milton thompson nasa test pilot john dryden flight research center altitude flight flight station flight controls minute flight nasa high flights space shuttle first mph usaf capt altitude records jet plane nasa california
date_range

Date

1966
collections

in collections

X Planes

X Series of U.S. Experimental Airplanes

NASA

NASA Photo Collection
place

Location

Armstrong Flight Research Center ,  34.95855, -117.89067
create

Source

NASA
link

Link

https://www.flickr.com/
copyright

Copyright info

No known copyright restrictions. Read more at https://www.flickr.com/commons/usage/

label_outline Explore Joe Engel, Rocketplane, North American X 15

Lockheed F-104A Starfighter (Interceptor)

A right side view of aircraft in flight over the desert during exercise Bright Star '82. The aircraft are from front to back: a MiG-21, F-16 Fighting Falcon, MiG-17 and an A-10 Thunderbolt II

Sluitstuk met een engel met wapenschild

Engel met tros lelies en twee cherubijnen en putto met scapulier

Probably the smallest plane in the world. Built by Edw. F. Allen of Wash, D.C., who was formerly test pilot for Army Air Service during the world war. Plane is equipped with 9 horsepower motorcycle engine and weighs only 205 lbs. with wing spread of 27 ft. Mr. Allen, in cockpit, flies it often and recently attained height of 1800 ft. capable of making 63 mph

X-15 ship 1 on lakebed from back

X-15 landing on lakebed. Public domain image of NASA aircraft.

Mark Irwin Special Collection Photo

Production. B-25 "Billy Mitchell" bombers. A woman employee in the enclosures department at the Inglewood, California, plant of North American Aviation assembled the windshield on a B-25 bomber. In addition to the battle-tested B-25 "Billy Mitchell" bomber, used in General Doolittle's raid on Tokyo, this plant produces the P-51 "Mustang" fighter plane which was first brought into prominence by the British raid on Dieppe

Kansas City, Kansas. B-25 bombers on the flight ramp ready for a test flight at the North American Aviation, Inc.

An air-to-air left side view of a Soviet MiG-23 Flogger aircraft

Part of the cowling for one of the motors for a B-25 bomber is assembled in the engine department of North American [Aviation, Inc.]'s Inglewood, Calif., plant

Topics

aviation usaf aerospace joe engel engel 56 6671 joseph engle north american aviation pete knight x plane rocketplane experimental flight x 15 a national aeronautics and space administration usaf 56 6671 manned spaceflight bill dana af 56 6671 jack mckay mckay knight x 15 a 2 william dana naa thiokol xlr 99 milt thompson dana milton thompson airplane us air force united states air force thompson reaction motors spaceflight aircraft william pete knight rushworth robert rushworth x 15 reaction motors xlr 99 north american x 15 x 15 pilots clown usaf maj nasa test pilot william dana nasa test pilot milton thompson nasa test pilot john dryden flight research center altitude flight flight station flight controls minute flight nasa high flights space shuttle first mph usaf capt altitude records jet plane nasa california