NASA's Birthday: Eight Very Odd Planes From Its Past

[kentauros]

This is from The Houston Press yesterday. Thought y'all would enjoy it here (since I haven't seen if there's an aeronautics forum on DU.)

NASA's Birthday: Eight Very Odd Planes From Its Past

By Richard Connelly
Wed., Jul. 27 2011 at 6:01 AM

NASA celebrates its 53rd birthday this week, but it will be a subdued occasion as the space shuttle era ends, top talent leaves and the agency seems adrift.

In its heyday the agency didn't worry about no damn budgets, and as a result it had a hand in developing some very strange planes. Among them (All photos from the great collection of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center):

8. The Oblique-Wing Research Aircraft
In the mid-`70s NASA tested this pilotless plane to determine the effectiveness of a movable wing. It ran on a 90-horsepower engine and flew three times.

...more at linked-headline with images...

[tridim]

1. I'm pretty sure one of those lifting bodies is the plane that Steve Austin crashed..

Before becoming the Six Million Dollar (not inflation adjusted) Man.

[kentauros]

2. I noticed that, too.

I wondered why they didn't mention it in the story. I think it's the one pictured as the X-24. Pretty strange craft even without that added fame :)

[Ready4Change]

6. Lifting bodies

The first one pictured, the X-24, came along later in the program.

The second one pictured, the M2-F1, was actually the first. If using wood to build a proto-type vehicle design meant to eventually go into space sounds odd, realize that, in total, that vehicle was built for about $50,000. It was built on the cheap to see if the lifting body concept would work at all. It was the only one of the lifting bodies that had no engine. Instead, it was first towed into the air behind a hot-rodded convertible. When that proved it was controllable, it was towed higher into the air behind a C-47. It flew well enough that a series of heavier, rocket powered vehicles followed.

As a kid I was always annoyed at the start of the 6 Million Dollar Man shows, as they used clips from two different lifting bodies, the HL-10 and the M2-F2 (the latter of which was the one that crashed.)

[wtmusic]

3. The vid of Neil Armstrong ejecting from "the flying bedstead" is amazing.

Thanks for sharing. :thumbsup:

[kentauros]

4. You're welcome :)

He was probably relying on his skills as a former test-pilot. Pilots like that are hard to kill, even with badly designed aircraft.

I'm guessing a test-craft like that would never be built today as the computer models would show its instability early on.

[pokerfan]

5. Awesome

I saw a flying wing at the Rose Bowl game once.