X-15 & Balls 3 Some of my friends (all three of them) have asked for more info concerning the X-15 airplane and the B-52 mothership; so here goes: 1. How many X-15s were built and how many total flights did they make? Three X-15s were built, flying 199 test flights, the last on 24 October 1968. A 200th flight over Nevada was first scheduled for 21 November 1968, to be flown by William Pete Knight. Numerous technical problems and outbreaks of bad weather delayed this proposed flight six times, and it was permanently canceled on 20 December 1968 The first X-15 flight was an unpowered test flight by Albert Scott Crossfield, on 8 June 1959. Crossfield also piloted the first powered flight, on 17 September 1959, and his first flight with the XLR-99 rocket engine on 15 November 1960. Twelve test pilots flew the X-15. Among these were Neil Armstrong, later a NASA astronaut. 2. Who made the fastest and who made the highest flights in a X-15? The fastest flight was made by William Pete Knight on 3 October 1967 as flight # 188. He achieved the speed of 4,519 mph or Mach 6.7 at an altitude of 102,000ft. On 22 August, 1963, Joe Walker during flight # 91 attained an altitude of 353,674 ft. (67 miles) at a speed of 3,794 mph. Walker was killed about three years later when his F-104 collided with a B-70. 3. What do the chicken scratchings and the bird on the side of the B-52 mothership represent? The scratchings are X-15 mission symbols. Their meaning is as follows. / A sucessful launch and operational mission. _ A captive flight where the X-15 was not dropped. \ Without the exhaust trail indicates an unpowered glide back to Earth. \ With the short exhaust trail indicates an inflight emergency. Of the latter two, I see only one example of each on 003. The bird is part of the nose art name of the plane as shown in a pic. The B-52 was also referred to as Balls 3 because of its serial number 52-003. Five aircraft were used during the X-15 program: three X-15s planes and two B-52 bombers: X-15A-1 – 56-6670, 82 powered flights X-15A-2 – 56-6671, 53 powered flights X-15A-3 – 56-6672, 64 powered flights NB-52A – 52-003 (retired in October 1969) NB-52B – 52-008 (retired in November 2004) Current static displays of the X-15 X-15A-1 (AF Ser. No. 56-6670) is on display in the National Air and Space Museum Milestones of Flight gallery, Washington, D.C. X-15A-2 (AF Ser. No. 56-6671) is at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio. Mockups: Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards AFB, California, USA (painted with AF Ser. No. 56-6672) Pima Air & Space Museum, adjacent to Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, Arizona (painted with AF Ser. No. 56-6671) Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, McMinnville, Oregon (painted with AF Ser. No. 56-6672). A full-scale wooden mockup of the X-15, it is displayed along with one of the rocket motors. Stratofortress mother ships NB-52A (AF Ser. No. 52-003) is displayed at the Pima Air & Space Museum adjacent to Davis–Monthan AFB in Tucson, Arizona. It launched the X-15-1 30 times, the X-15-2, 11 times, and the X-15-3 31 times. NB-52B (AF Ser. No. 52-008) is displayed at the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB, California. It launched the majority of X-15 flights.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 13:16:38 +0000
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