The story of the Bell X-1. Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in controlled level flight for the first time in history on October 14th, 1947. Added: 07/13/2009
The story of the quest to break the sound barrier and the Bell X-1 Rocket Plane. added: 07/24/2009
Bell X-2 Starbuster
The Bell X-2 "Starbuster" was a research aircraft built to investigate flight characteristics in the Mach 2-3 range. The X-2 replica is located at Planes of Fame Air Museum. Added: 07/25/2009
Some rare rare aerial footage of the Douglas D-558 II Skyrocket, and the Bell X-2 Starbuster. The D-558-2 was first aircraft to travel Mach 2. The Bell X-2 was the first aircraft to reach Mach 3. Added: 11/06/2009
Douglas X-3 Stiletto
The Douglas X-3 Stiletto was a 1950s experimental jet aircraft. Its mission was to investigate the design features of an aircraft suitable for sustained supersonic speeds. It was seriously underpowered for its purpose and could not even exceed Mach 1 in level flight. Added: 5/21/2010
Very rare color footage of the Douglas X-3 Stiletto. Added: 5/21/2010
Ryan Aeronautical Company X-13 Vertijet
The Ryan Aeronautical Company X-13 Vertijet was intended to Demonstrate the ability of a pure jet to vertically takeoff, hover, transition to horizontal forward flight, and vertically land. Added: 07/24/2009
The North American X-15
American Hero, Scott Crossfield retells the story of the X-15 explosion on the test cell. On June 8, 1960, he had another close call during ground tests with the XLR-99 engine. He was seated in the cockpit of the No. 3 X-15 when a malfunctioning valve caused a catastrophic explosion. Added: 07/24/2009
On October 15th, 1958 the North American X-15 Rocket plane was revealed to the public for the first time. Added: 07/24/2009
On march 10th, 1959, the X-15 Rocket plane made its maiden captive flight under the wing of a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress wth pilot Scott Crossfield at the controls. Added: 07/24/2009
On June 2nd, 1959 on flight number one, a planned glide, the X-15, piloted by Scott Crossfield reached MACH 0.79 or 522 MPH and attained an altitude of 37,550 feet MSL. Added: 07/24/2009
On Spetember 17th, 1959, the North American X-15 made its maiden powered flight launched from the wing of a B-52 Stratofortress with pilot Scott Crossfield at the controls. Added: 07/24/2009
On November 5th, 1959, on flight number four, resulted in an emergency landing because of an engine fire with structural damage to the fuselage after landing. Pilot Scott Crossfield saved the aircraft to fly again. Added: 07/24/2009
Although not flown today, the X-15 led to many advances for other aircraft and the space shuttle. Props to the test pilots Joe Walker and Scott Crossfield. Added: 07/24/2009
A news reel report on the X-15 rocket plane pilotd by Scott Crossfield. Added: 07/24/2009
Northrop X-21A
The Northrop X-21A was an experimental aircraft designed to test wings with laminar flow control. It was based on the Douglas WB-66D airframe, with the wing-mounted engines moved to the rear fuselage and making space for air compressors. The aircraft first flew on 18 April 1963 with NASA test pilot Jack Wells at the controls. Added: 07/25/2009
Martin Marietta X-24B PRIME
The Martin X-24B became the first lifting body to make an unpowered precision landing on a concrete runway. The feat was pivotal to convincing NASA officials that landing the Space Shuttle Orbiter in an unpowered state was operationally feasible. Added: 07/25/2009
Grumman X-29
The Grumman X-29 was an experimental aircraft that explored a number of new technologies; the most immediately obvious being the forward-swept wings and canard control surface. The X-29 first flew in 1984 and two X-29s were flight tested over the next decade. Added: 07/25/2009
Rockwell-MBB X-31
The collaborative U.S.-German Rockwell-MBB X-31Enhanced Fighter Maneuverability program was designed to test fighter thrust vectoring technology. Two X-31s were built, with the first flying on October 11, 1990. Added: 07/25/2009
NASA X-43
The X-43 is an unmanned experimental hypersonic aircraft design with multiple planned scale variations meant to test different aspects of hypersonic flight. The initial version, the X-43A, was designed to operate at speeds greater than Mach 7, about 5,400 mph at altitudes of 100,000 feet or more. The X-43A is a single-use vehicle and is designed to crash into the ocean without recovery. Three of them have been built. Added: 07/25/2009
The Northrop Grumman X-47 Pegasus
The Northrop Grumman X-47 Pegasus is a demonstration Umnanned Combat Aerial Vehicle. The X-47 began as part of DARPA's J-UCAS program, and is now part of the United States Navy's UCAS-D program to create a carrier-based unmanned aircraft. The original vehicle carries the designation X-47A, while the follow-on naval version is designated X-47B. Added: 07/25/2009
Various Experimental Aircraft
The Northrop N9M Flying Wing. This aircraft is the actual great-grandfather of the modern day B-2 Spirit Flying Wing Heavy Bomber. Added: 09/20/2010
The Vought XF8U-3 Crusader III was an aircraft developed by Chance Vought as a successor to the successful F-8 Crusader program and as a competitor to the F-4 Phantom II. The XF8U-3 first flew on June 2, 1958. During testing, the aircraft reached Mach 2.6 at 35,000 ft. Added: 07/24/2009
The Boeing XB-15 was designed in 1934 as a test aircraft to see if it was possible to build a heavy bomber with a 5,000 mile range. When it first flew, it was the most massive and most voluminous airplane ever built in the United States. Added: 07/25/2009
The Douglas XB-19. The purpose of the XB-19 project was to test the flight characteristics and design techniques associated with giant bombers. Added: 07/25/2009
The lone example of the Convair XB-46. Added: 08/06/2009
The Martin XB-48 Added: 08/06/2009
The Martin XB-51. Added: 08/09/2009
The Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender, was a 1940s US prototype fighter aircraft built by Curtiss. A highly unusual design for its time, it had a canard configuration, a rear mounted engine, swept wings and two vertical tails. Because of its pusher design, it was sarcastically referred to as the "Ass-ender." Added: 07/24/2009
The XP-56 Black Bullet was a unique prototype fighter interceptor built by Northrop. The plane was to be a flying wing with a fuselage added to house the engine and pilot. The hope was that this configuration would have less drag than a conventional airplane. Added: 07/24/2009
The McDonnell XP-67 was a prototype for a twin-engine, long range, single-seat interceptor aircraft for the United States Army Air Corps. The project was cancelled after the sole completed prototype was destroyed by an engine fire. Added: 07/24/2009
The XC-142 was an early VSTOL (Verticle/Short Take-off/Landing) aircraft and was the largest VSTOl aircraft to ever land on an aircraft carrier. Later tests with a C-130 aircraft holds the title of largest aircraft ever landed on an aircraft carrier. I saw the XC-142 fly as a boy. Added: 06/07/2009
The Northrop N1M and N1M-2 Flying wings. Extremely rare color video of the first flight and following flights of the Northrop flying wing prototypes. This film was shot in 1940. These aircraft were the pioneers of flying wing design in America and were the foundation for the N9M series of flying wings and eventually evolved into the modern day B-2 Spirit bomber. Added: 01/22/2009
This one is the production video by Northrop Corporation featuring the first flights of the Northrop Aircraft. This video features the first flights and aircrews of the N1M, N3PB, M9M, XB-35, YB-49, XP-61, MX-543, XP-56, MX-324, JB-10, XF-15, XF-15A, XP-79B, XP-89, X-4, YRB-49. Added: 01/22/2009
Northrop First Flights II. This video features the first flights and aircrews of the N-23, YC-125, YF-89, F-89A, YT-38, N-156, YF-5A, F5-A. Added: 01/22/2009
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