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Images by Joseph A. Walker and Stanley P. Butchart of California
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Test pilots 1952 - Walker, B
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| Photo Date |
March 18, 1952 |
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B-29 mothership with pilots
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| Title |
B-29 mothership with pilots - Payne, Butchart, Walker, Littleton, and Moise |
| Description |
This photo shows the B-29 in the background with Dick Payne, Stan Butchart, and Joe Walker standing in front of it, Charles Littleton and John Moise squatting. The Boeing B-29 was the first U.S. aircraft to be modified to serve as an airborne launch vehicle. Last operated by the NASA High-Speed Flight Station (now the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California), the B-29 aircraft was used to launch the X-1 series aircraft, including the X-1-1, the X-1-2 (later redesignated the X-1E), the X-1A, and the X-1B. The B-29, which was accepted by the Air Force on Aug. 2, 1945, was operated by the NACA, NASA, the U.S. Air Force, and the Bell Aircraft Company. The Air Force transferred the B-29 to Bell Aircraft Company where it was modified to act as a carrier, or "mothership," for the first X-1. After modification, the aircraft flew to Pinecastle Army Air Base, Florida, where it made aeronautical history on Jan. 25, 1946, with its air launch of the first X-1. It then performed 10 drops of the X-1 at Pinecastle before flying to Edwards Air Force Base, California, in September 1946 where it dropped the X-1 for its first powered flight on Dec. 9, 1946. On Oct. 14, 1947, the B-29 again participated in a major aeronautical advance when it air launched the X-1 aircraft, which proceeded to exceed the speed of sound (Mach 1) for the first time. Air Force Pilot Captain Charles "Chuck" Yeager was at the controls of the X-1 that day. A mid-air explosion in the "captive" X-1A almost ended the career of the B-29 on Aug. 8, 1955. But pilot Stanley P. Butchart dropped the X-1A to its destruction in the desert after X-1A pilot, Joseph A. Walker, had scrambled back into the B-29. The B-29's 14-year career ended on July 1, 1959, when it was flown from the NASA High-Speed Flight Station to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, for retirement. The aircraft was made obsolete as a mothership by the advent of the X-15 Program, which required a larger, faster launch vehicle, the B-52. In the meantime, from 1950 to 1956, the NACA had used a P2B-1S (a Navy version of the B-29) to launch the rocket-powered versions of the D-558-2 research aircraft. |
| Date |
01.01.1953 |
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Test pilots 1952 - Walker, B
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| Title |
Test pilots 1952 - Walker, Butchart, and Jones |
| Description |
This photo shows test pilots, (Left-Right) Joseph A. Walker, Stanley P. Butchart and Walter P. Jones, standing in front of the Douglas D-558-II Skystreak, in 1952. These three test pilots at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics' High-Speed Flight Research Station probably were discussing their flights in the aircraft. Joe flew research flights on the D-558-I #3 (14 flights, first on June 29, 1951) investigating buffeting, tail loads, and longitudinal stability. He flew the D-558-II #2 (3 flights, first on April 29, 1955) and recorded data on lateral stability and control. He also made pilot check-out flights in the D-558-II #3 (2 flights, first on May 7, 1954). For fifteen years Walker served as a pilot at the Edwards flight research facility (today known as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Dryden Flight Research Center) on research flights as well as chase missions for other pilots on NASA and Air Force research programs. On June 8, 1966, he was flying chase in NASA's F-104N for the Air Force's experimental bomber, North American XB-70A, when he was fatally injured in a mid-air collision between the planes. Stan flew the D-558-I #3 (12 flights, first on October 19, 1951) to determine the dynamic longitudinal stability characteristics and investigations of the lateral stability and control. He made one flight in the D-558-II #3 on June 26, 1953, as a pilot check-out flight. Butchart retired from the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, California, on February 27, 1976, after a 25-year career in research aviation. Stan served as a research pilot, chief pilot, and director of flight operations. Walter P. Jones was a research pilot for NACA from the fall of 1950 to July 1952. He had been in the U.S. Air Force as a pilot before joining the Station. Jones flew the D-558-I #3 (5 flights, first on February 13, 1951) to study buffeting, tail loads and longitudinal stability. Jones made research flights on the D-558-II #3 ( 7 flights, first on July 20, 1951). These flights investigated pitch-up and evaluated outboard wing fences. Walt also made research flights in the Northrop X-4 (14 flights, first on March 26, 1952) and the Bell X-5 (8 flights, first on June 20, 1952). In July 1952, Walt left NACA's High-Speed Flight Research Station to join Northrop Corporation as a pilot. Returning from a test mission in a Northrop YF-89D Scorpion he was fatally injured on October 20, 1953, near Edwards Air Force Base. |
| Date |
03.18.1952 |
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