The Northrop M2-F2 was a heavyweight
lifting body
A lifting body is a fixed-wing aircraft or spacecraft configuration in which the body itself produces lift. In contrast to a flying wing, which is a wing with minimal or no conventional fuselage, a lifting body can be thought of as a fuselage wi ...
based on studies at
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
's Ames and Langley research centers and built by the Northrop Corporation in 1966.
Development
The success of
Dryden's M2-F1 program led to NASA's development and construction of two heavyweight lifting bodies based on studies at NASA's
Ames
Ames may refer to:
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* Ames, Oklah ...
and
Langley Langley may refer to:
People
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research centers—the M2-F2 and the
HL-10
The Northrop HL-10 was one of five US heavyweight lifting body designs flown at NASA's Flight Research Center (FRC—later Dryden Flight Research Center) in Edwards, California, from July 1966 to November 1975 to study and validate the concept o ...
, both built by the Northrop Corporation. The "M" refers to "manned" and "F" refers to "flight" version. "HL" comes from "horizontal landing" and 10 is for the tenth lifting body model to be investigated by Langley.
On March 23, 1966 the M2-F2 made its first captive flight—attached to the
B-52
The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air ...
carrier aircraft throughout. The first free
gliding
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word ''soaring'' is al ...
flight of the M2-F2 was on July 12, 1966, piloted by
Milton O. Thompson
Milton Orville Thompson (May 4, 1926 – August 6, 1993), (Lieutenant Commander (United States), Lt Cmdr, United States Naval Reserve, USNR), better known as Milt Thompson, was an American United States Navy, naval officer, United States naval ...
. He was
dropped from the B-52 carrier aircraft's wing pylon at an altitude of and reached a speed of about .
Operational history
![M2-F2 Crash on Rogers Dry Lake - GPN-2000-000089](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/M2-F2_Crash_on_Rogers_Dry_Lake_-_GPN-2000-000089.jpg)
Before powered flights were undertaken, a series of glide flights were conducted. On May 10, 1967, the sixteenth and last glide flight ended in disaster as the vehicle slammed into the lake bed on landing. With test pilot
Bruce Peterson
Bruce A. Peterson (May 23, 1933 – May 1, 2006) was an American aeronautical engineer, and test pilot for NASA.
Biography Early life and education
Peterson was born on May 23, 1933. A native of Washburn, North Dakota, he attended the Univer ...
at the controls, the M2-F2 suffered a
pilot induced oscillation (PIO) as it neared the lake bed. At the core of this problem was the fact that the wings of the M2-F2 (essentially the body of the aircraft) produced considerably less roll authority than most aircraft. This resulted in less force available to the pilot to control the aircraft in roll. The vehicle rolled from side to side in flight as he tried to bring it under control. Peterson recovered, but then observed a rescue helicopter that seemed to pose a collision threat. Distracted, Peterson drifted in a crosswind to an unmarked area of the lake bed where it was very difficult to judge the height over the ground because of a lack of guidance (the markers provided on the lake bed runway).
Peterson fired the landing rockets to provide additional lift, but he hit the lake bed before the
landing gear
Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...
was fully down and locked. The M2-F2 rolled over six times, coming to rest upside down. Pulled from the vehicle by Jay King and Joseph Huxman, Peterson was rushed to the base hospital, transferred to the
March Air Force Base
March Air Reserve Base (March ARB), previously known as March Air Force Base (March AFB) is located in Riverside County, California between the cities of Riverside, Moreno Valley, and Perris. It is the home to the Air Force Reserve Command's Fo ...
Hospital and then the
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
Hospital. He recovered but lost vision in his right
eye
Eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide living organisms with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enabling several photo response functions that are independent of vision. Eyes detect light and conv ...
due to a
staphylococcal
''Staphylococcus'' is a genus of Gram-positive bacteria in the family Staphylococcaceae from the order Bacillales. Under the microscope, they appear spherical (cocci), and form in grape-like clusters. ''Staphylococcus'' species are facultative ...
infection.
Portions of M2-F2 footage including Peterson's spectacular crash landing were used for the 1973 television series ''
The Six Million Dollar Man
''The Six Million Dollar Man'' is an American science fiction and action television series, running from 1973 to 1978, about a former astronaut, USAF Colonel Steve Austin, portrayed by Lee Majors. After a NASA test flight accident, Austin is reb ...
''
[
] though some shots during the opening credits of the series showed the later
HL-10
The Northrop HL-10 was one of five US heavyweight lifting body designs flown at NASA's Flight Research Center (FRC—later Dryden Flight Research Center) in Edwards, California, from July 1966 to November 1975 to study and validate the concept o ...
model, during release from its carrier plane, a modified
B-52
The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air ...
.
Four pilots flew the M2-F2 on its 16 glide flights. They were
Milton O. Thompson
Milton Orville Thompson (May 4, 1926 – August 6, 1993), (Lieutenant Commander (United States), Lt Cmdr, United States Naval Reserve, USNR), better known as Milt Thompson, was an American United States Navy, naval officer, United States naval ...
(five flights),
Bruce Peterson
Bruce A. Peterson (May 23, 1933 – May 1, 2006) was an American aeronautical engineer, and test pilot for NASA.
Biography Early life and education
Peterson was born on May 23, 1933. A native of Washburn, North Dakota, he attended the Univer ...
(three flights), Don Sorlie (three flights) and
Jerry Gentry
Jerauld Richard "Jerry" Gentry (May 16, 1935 – March 3, 2003) was a United States Air Force (USAF) test pilot and Vietnam combat veteran. As chief USAF pilot of the Lifting Body Research Program, he helped validate the concept of flying a w ...
(five flights).
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
s and
research
Research is "creativity, creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular att ...
ers realized the M2-F2 had lateral control problems, even though it had a stability augmentation control system. When the M2-F2 was rebuilt at Dryden and redesignated the
M2-F3
The Northrop M2-F3 was a heavyweight lifting body rebuilt from the Northrop M2-F2 after it crashed at the Dryden Flight Research Center in 1967. It was modified with an additional third vertical fin - centered between the tip fins - to improve c ...
, it was modified with an additional third vertical
fin
A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fin ...
—centered between the tip fins to improve control characteristics.
The M2-F2/F3 was the first of the heavyweight, entry-configuration lifting bodies. Its successful development as a research test vehicle answered many of the generic questions about these vehicles.
M2-F2 flights
*NASA M2-F2 - NASA 803, 16 unpowered flights
Specifications (M2-F2)
See also
References
External links
Most of text taken from NASA Dryden webpage.NASA Dryden M2-F2 Photo CollectionWingless Flight: The Lifting Body Story. NASA History Series SP-4220 1997 PDFVideoof Peterson's crash
{{Authority control
Lifting bodies
M2-F2, Northrop
M2-F2, Northrop
M2-F2, Northrop