>> Beginning with man's first attempt to fly faster
than the speed of sound, the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration's Flight Research Center has
played an important role
in establishing this country's leadership in world aeronautics.
The Flight Research Center was established in 1947,
when a small group of engineers and technicians were assigned
to the X-1 Flight Research Program.
Since then, the specially designed
and highly instrumented research aircraft has become one
of the most valuable tools of advanced aeronautical research.
The X-1 was the first research aircraft to fly faster
than the speed of sound.
Its mission was to probe the sound barrier.
Powered by an XLR-11 rocket engine rated at 6,000 pounds
of thrust, it used propellants
of ethyl alcohol and liquid oxygen.
The X-1 air launched from a B-29 mothership made its first
powered flight in 1946.
In 1947, Capt.
Charles Yeager piloted the X-1 in level flight faster
than the speed of sound.
The D-558 Skyrocket was the second rocket-powered research
aircraft to fly.
It was designed to investigate jet aircraft characteristics
at transonic speeds, including stability and control
and buffet investigations.
The D-558 was the first American aircraft to use swept back wings
and stall fences, features that are common
to our present-day commercial jet transports.
The D-558 was the first aircraft to fly faster
than twice the speed of sound.
The largest of the early research aircraft was the
X-3 Stiletto.
It was 69 feet long with a wingspan of 22 feet.
The primary mission of the X-3 was thin wing research.
Powered by two jet engines, the X-3 had a top speed of slightly
in excess of Mach 1, the speed of sound.
The X-4 was easily recognizable
by its lack of a horizontal tail.
The X-5 was the first paragraph that could sweep its wings
from 20 degrees to 60 degrees in flight.
This variable sweep concept is being used
in current fighter and bomber designs.
The X-5 made its first flight in 1951.
First flown in 1955, the X-1E was used for thin wing research,
aerodynamic heating studies, and stability
and control investigations.
The most successful of the research aircraft was the X-15,
which made its first powered flight on September 17, 1959.
The three X-15 aircraft flew 199 flights to obtain data
on the aerodynamics of hypersonic flight.
The X-15 is the only manned aircraft that has flown
to altitudes of 354,200 feet and speeds of Mach 6.7.
The flight program made significant
and unique contributions to future aircraft designs
and proved that winged Earth exit and reentry are well
within the controlled capabilities of man.
The XB-70, the world's largest experimental aircraft,
was 185 feet long, had a wingspan of 105 feet,
and was 30 feet high at the tail.
It was capable of flight at speeds of three times the speed
of sound, 2,000 mph, at altitudes of 70,000 feet.
The major objectives
of the XB-70 Flight Research Program were
to study the airplane's stability
and handling characteristics, evaluate its response
to atmospheric turbulence,
and assess propulsion system performance.
The wingtips could be lowered in flight to allow the aircraft
to cruise at higher speeds more efficiently.
At these higher speeds, water vapor condensed
at the forward control surfaces.
The vapor can be seen streaming from the aircraft.
A program to develop the piloting techniques
that were used during the final phase
of the manned lunar landing was started
at the Flight Research Center in 1964.
This program used a free-flying simulator called the Lunar
Landing Research Vehicle, or LLRV.
To compensate for the gravitational
and atmospheric differences between the Earth and the Moon,
the LLRV was equipped with a gimbaled jet engine
that produced enough thrust to counterbalance 5/6
of its weight, thereby simulating 1/6 gravity
of the Moon.
Small rocket motors were used by the pilot to control horizontal
and vertical movement in a simulated approach
to the surface of the Moon.
One of the research craft recently tested
at the Flight Research Center was the M2 Lifting Body.
The M2 was towed to altitude by a C-47 aircraft.
Lifting bodies are wingless vehicles
that obtain aerodynamic lift for flight
from the shape of their bodies.
Vehicles like these are being tested
to obtain basic flight test data to aid in the development
of future space shuttle craft that will be used to supply men
and materials to orbiting space stations.
Three minutes after launch,
the M2 began its final landing approach.
Total flight time for a normal glide flight was almost
four minutes.
The HL-10 was the second manned research craft
of the wingless lifting body class
of reentry vehicles studied by NASA.
It was flight tested to provide technology for the design
of future spacecraft that are maneuvered in flight
to normal landings at selected landing sites.
During the final approach, the HL-10 pilot pushed
over to increase the horizontal speed before performing the
flare maneuver to cushion the landing.
The HL-10 landing speed was about 230 mph
and rollout was approximately 1 and a half miles.
The X-24A was another of the three lifting body shapes
which have been flown at the Flight Research Center.
First flown on April 17, 1969, the craft made 28 flights.
Top speed reached by the X-24A was 1,000 mph
and the highest altitude was 71,000 feet.
A new airfoil shape called the supercritical wing is being
flight tested aboard an extensively modified F-8
jet aircraft.
Almost the direct opposite of conventional airfoil shapes,
the supercritical wing has a flattened top surface,
which delays shock wave formation
and increases the total wing efficiency.
An advanced flight control system called the digital
fly-by-wire system has been installed
by the Flight Research Center in a modified F-8 jet aircraft.
The heart of the control system is a digital computer
and an inertial measuring unit that were developed
for the flight control system of the Apollo Lunar Module.
Use of this kind of control system could make air travel
of the future smoother and safer
by reducing aircraft vibrations caused by turbulent air
through automatic response from the computer
to the aircraft controls.
The National Aeronautics
and Space Administration has assumed operational control
of two YF-12 aircraft being flown
in a joint Air Force/NASA research program.
The basic purpose of the YF-12 flight research program is
to obtain information from sustained cruise flight
at Mach 3, approximately 2,000 miles per hour,
at altitudes near 75,000 feet.
Data obtained from the program will be used
to further the development and operation
of supersonic aircraft, both commercial and military,
and the proposed space shuttle.
Major areas of interest in the NASA portion
of the program are structural and performance research.
Other research regions include stability and control,
aerodynamics, the physiological and biomedical aspects
of sustained high-speed cruise, and the physics
of the upper atmosphere.
Future aircraft design will depend
on the work we do here today at the NASA Flight Research Center.
And so, after 25 years of basic research into all the facets
of manned flight, the NASA Flight Research Center is ready
for the challenge of tomorrow, looking forward
to new horizons to conquer.
Programs are under consideration which will tax present knowledge
and demand solution by the youth of tomorrow.
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