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D-558-2 preflight preparatio
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D-558-2 Scott Crossfield lau
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D-558-2 launch from P2B-1S m
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D-558-2 Pilot Scott Crossfie
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D-558-2 pilot entry from P2B
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Test pilots 1952 - Walker, B
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| Photo Date |
March 18, 1952 |
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D-558-II Pre-launch Video Un
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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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X-5 in flight
| Title |
X-5 in flight |
| Description |
The Bell X-5 completed all of the research goals originally set for the first aircraft capable of variably sweeping its wings in flight. Demonstrating wing sweep from 20 to 60 degrees, the aircraft verified NACA wind-tunnel predictions of reduced drag and improved performance resulting from increased wing sweep as it approached Mach 1. Even the vicious spinning characteristics of the X-5 yielded a wealth of data for determining poor aircraft spin design. Bell built two X-5s. Following the completion of the contractor test program with aircraft number one (serial number 50-1838) in October 1951, the Air Force flew a brief evaluation program totaling six flights and turned the aircraft over to the NACA for the remainder of the 133 research flights by a variety of NACA pilots including Joseph Walker, Walter P. Jones, Scott Crossfield, and Stan Butchart. Future astronaut Neil Armstrong flew the final flight on 25 October 1955 at the NACA's High-Speed Flight Station (later the Dryden Flight Research Center). Only Bell and the Air Force operated the second X-5 (50-1839), which was lost in a spin accident in 1953. In this 8-second movie clip we see the Bell aircraft X-5 coming in, wings swept, for a low-level pass by the camera. |
| Date |
01.01.1950 |
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