NASA Research Aircraft - D-558-II, D-558-I, X-5, X-1, XF-92A, X-4

NACA High Speed Flight Station at Edwards AFB South Base. Aircraft are (left to right): D-558-2, D-558-1, X-5, X-1, XF-92A, and X-4. This is an early 1950s color photo of NACA research aircraft in front of the South Base hangar. On the left is the third D-558-2 (NACA 145/Navy 37975). At this time, the aircraft was still in the combined jet and rocket configuration. NACA 145 was used to test a number of wing modifications intended to lessen the pitch up of the aircraft in turns. Next to it is the third D-558-1 (NACA 142/Navy 37972) which provided aerodynamic data at transonic speeds. The rudder is still painted red, to avoid possible control surface flutter problems which might be caused by weight and balance changes from a coat of white paint. To the right is the first X-5 (Air Force 50-1838), which tested an in-flight variable-sweep wing design. This allowed the gathering of transonic data at a wide range of sweep angles. The X-5 did have very poor stall/spin behavior, which made it dangerous to fly. Beside it is the second X-1 (Air Force 46-063), which was flown by the NACA between September 1947 and October 1951. This aircraft had a thicker wing than the first X-1 (46-062), which created considerable drag. The aircraft was later modified to become the X-1E. Behind the rocket-powered X-1 is the single XF-92A built (Air Force 46-682). Although intended to be the prototype of a jet fighter, it became a research aircraft testing delta wings. Its use by the NACA was relatively brief, but the data proved useful in the design of later U.S. delta-wing aircraft. To the forward right is the second X-4 (Air Force 46-677) which tested the concept of a semi-tailless swept-wing aircraft (no horizontal stabilizer). Without horizontal stabilizers, however, the aircraft proved unstable at high transonic speeds. The Dryden Flight Research Center, NASA's premier installation for aeronautical flight research, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1996. Dryden is the "Center of Excellence" for atmospheric flight operations. The Center's charter is to research, develop, verify, and transfer advanced aeronautics, space, and related technologies. It is located at Edwards, Calif., on the western edge of the Mojave Desert, 80 miles north of Los Angeles. Dryden's history dates back to the early fall of 1946, when a group of five aeronautical engineers arrived at what is now Edwards from the NACA's Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, Hampton, Va. Their goal was to prepare for the X-l supersonic research flights in a joint NACA-U.S. Army Air Forces-Bell Aircraft Corp. program. NACA--the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics--was the predecessor of today's NASA. Since the days of the X-l, the first aircraft to fly faster than the speed of sound, the installation has grown in size and significance and is associated with many important developments in aviation -- supersonic and hypersonic flight, wingless lifting bodies, digital fly-by-wire, supercritical and forward-swept wings, and the space shuttles. Its name has changed many times over the years. From 14 November 1949 to 1 July 1954 it bore the name NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station.
NASA Identifier: NIX-EC-145