X15 and X-series planes

[masraum]

I remember as a kid reading about this stuff in books, and probably encyclopedias. They fuel my imaginations, and still do to an extent. These and the SR71 are absolutely the things that young mens dreams are made of.

[3rd_gear_Ted]

Notice the airframe numbers in the pictures
Mine is 66671
It was faster

From N.A.A. in Downey CA.
Picture @ Edwards AFB

[kevin993]

[Tobra]

Dad worked for North American Aviation. He gave my older brother an X-15 model, some kind of corporate promo deal, the sort of thing a lawyer for NAA would have on his desk.

I think we have probably had a thread about this before

[john70t]

Is that an airplane, or a missile with a person attached?

[Dantilla]

My favorite quote about the X-15:

"The X-15 is the only airplane I flew where I was glad when it ran out of gas"

[masraum]

Originally Posted by john70t

Is that an airplane, or a missile with a person attached?

Rocket with a person and wings strapped on.

[Scott Douglas]

Reading about it in books!
He!!, I remember when the news would have reports of the flights on TV.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Dad worked for North American Aviation. He gave my older brother an X-15 model, some kind of corporate promo deal, the sort of thing a lawyer for NAA would have on his desk.

I think we have probably had a thread about this before

I know we've had several about the SR71/A12/YF12. The X-planes have probably been mentioned, but I don't remember those threads.

[MRM]

The X-Series are so evocative because they represent such rapid advancement in speed and technology that it seemed at the time that a solution to all of our problems was just over the horizon. That period of time in post-war America must have been one of continuous wonder and amazement.

Measure it in terms of increases in speed of the fastest human on the planet. It took thousands of years for man to go from walking to the wheel to animals and sailboats. The steam engine ruled for a couple of hundred years before the internal combustion engine transformed transportation and made air travel possible. It took perhaps 50 years for airplanes to transform from rickety biplanes to 500 MPH piston-driven fighters. Then came rockets and jet engines and in barely a decade humans went from being limited by the sound barrier to traveling thousands of miles per hour. The rate of increase in the maximum speed of human travel was increasing at exponential rates with seemingly no end in sight. In the space of barely 20 years humans went from perhaps 500 miles per hour to 24,000 miles per hour.

Sadly, as with Hotel California, we haven't had that spirit here since 1969. Humans haven't even attempted to increase the speed record in half a century. The X-Plane program and the narrow window of time in which they flourished will remain a lost golden age. So it is good to remember those more innocent and hopeful times and honor those magnificent machines and the people who made them possible.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by MRM

Sadly, as with Hotel California, we haven't had that spirit here since 1969. Humans haven't even attempted to increase the speed record in half a century. The X-Plane program and the narrow window of time in which they flourished will remain a lost golden age. So it is good to remember those more innocent and hopeful times and honor those magnificent machines and the people who made them possible.

One of the videos (don't remember which) actually did address that some. It was just too darned dangerous to push the speed envelope with a man inside.

But!!!

https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_231.html

NASA's X-43A research vehicle has screamed into the record books, demonstrating an air-breathing engine can fly at nearly 10 times the speed of sound. Preliminary data from the scramjet-powered research vehicle show its revolutionary engine worked successfully at approximately Mach 10, nearly 7000 mph, as it flew at an altitude of approximately 110,000 feet on November 16, 2004.

[javadog]

There are quite a few (dozens, really) books out there on the X-planes and the SR-71, I have a bunch of them and I'd highly recommend them. Some are quite detailed. Brian Shul has a nice book on the SR71, he's a really nice guy to talk to.

[red-beard]

To me, if you are going to "increase speed" for commercial travel, we need "Semi-Ballistic" "planes".

Basically, speed up using air breathing engines, then rocket takeover for a ballistic path to the destination, landing similar to space shuttle, but powered. Anywhere on the planet in 90 minutes or less.