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M2-F2
The Northrop M2-F2 was a heavyweight lifting body based on studies at NASA'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 and Langley research centers—the M2-F2 and the HL-10, 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 carrier aircraft throughout. The first free gliding flight of the M2-F2 was on July 12, 1966, piloted by Milton O. Thompson. He was dropped from the B-52 carrier aircraft's wing pylon at an altitude of and reached a speed of about . Operational history Before powered flights were undertaken, a series of glide fligh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northrop 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 control characteristics. The "M" refers to "manned" and "F" refers to "flight" version. Development Early flight testing of the M2-F1 and M2-F2 lifting body reentry configurations had validated the concept of piloted lifting body reentry from space. When the M2-F2 crashed on May 10, 1967, valuable information had already been obtained and was contributing to new designs. NASA pilots said the M2-F2 had lateral control problems, so when the M2-F2 was rebuilt at Northrop and redesignated the M2-F3, it was modified with an additional third vertical fin - centered between the tip fins - to improve control characteristics. After a three-year-long redesign and rebuilding effort, the M2-F3 was ready to fly. The May 1967 crash of the M2-F2 had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 wingless vehicle back to Earth from space and landing it like an aircraft—an approach used by the Space Shuttle and to a greater degree by vehicles such as the Lockheed Martin X-33 and NASA X-38. Gentry completed thirty lifting body flights including the first flight of the Martin-Marietta X-24A and the second flight of the Northrop HL-10. Biography Early years Gentry was born in Enid, Oklahoma to Louise (née Hoyt) Gentry and Richard "Dick" Gentry. He attended Kemper Military School in Boonville, Missouri. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland in 1957 and accepted his commission with the U.S. Air Force. Military career Gentry received pilot training in 1958 and flew the F-100 Super Sabre. He atte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 with little or no conventional wing. Whereas a flying wing seeks to maximize cruise efficiency at subsonic speeds by eliminating non-lifting surfaces, lifting bodies generally minimize the drag and structure of a wing for subsonic, supersonic and hypersonic flight, or spacecraft re-entry. All of these flight regimes pose challenges for proper flight safety. Lifting bodies were a major area of research in the 1960s and 70s as a means to build a small and lightweight crewed spacecraft. The US built a number of lifting body rocket planes to test the concept, as well as several rocket-launched re-entry vehicles that were tested over the Pacific. Interest waned as the US Air Force lost interest in the crewed mission, and major development ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 rebuilt with superhuman strength, speed and vision due to bionic implants and is employed as a secret agent by a fictional U.S. government office titled OSI. The series was based on Martin Caidin's 1972 novel ''Cyborg'', which was the working title of the series during pre-production. Following three television films intended as pilots, which all aired in 1973, ''The Six Million Dollar Man'' television series aired on the ABC network as a regular episodic series for five seasons from 1974 to 1978. Steve Austin became a pop culture icon of the 1970s. A spin-off television series, '' The Bionic Woman'', featuring the lead female character Jaime Sommers, ran from 1976 to 1978. Three television movies featuring both bionic characters were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 University of California at Los Angeles from 1950 to 1953, and California Polytechnic State University from 1958 to 1960. While at UCLA he held a job as an aircraft assembler for Douglas Aircraft Company. Peterson graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Cal Poly in 1960. Flight experience and NASA career Following attending UCLA, Peterson enlisted as a naval aviation cadet and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1954. He was released from active duty three years later. Upon receiving his bachelor's degree from Cal Poly, Peterson joined NASA in August 1960 as an engineer at the Dryden Flight Research Center. After graduating from the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School (Class 62C) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northrop 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 of safely maneuvering and landing a low lift-over-drag vehicle designed for reentry from space. It was a NASA design and was built to evaluate "inverted airfoil" lifting body and delta planform. It currently is on display at the entrance to the Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. Development Northrop Corporation built the HL-10 and Northrop M2-F2, the first two of the fleet of "heavy" lifting bodies flown by the NASA Flight Research Center. The contract for construction of the HL-10 and the M2-F2 was $1.8 million. "HL" stands for horizontal landing, and "10" refers to the tenth design studied by engineers at NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Main gear was a modified T-38 system retracted manually, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NASA M2-F1
The NASA M2-F1 was a lightweight, unpowered prototype aircraft, developed to flight-test the wingless lifting body concept. Its unusual appearance earned it the nickname "flying bathtub" and was designated the M2-F1, the M referring to "manned", and F referring to "flight" version. In 1962, NASA Dryden management approved a program to build a lightweight, unpowered lifting-body prototype. It featured a plywood shell placed over a tubular steel frame crafted at Dryden. Construction was completed in 1963. Development The lifting-body concept originated in the mid-1950s at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics' Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, Mountain View, California. By February 1962, a series of possible shapes had been developed, and R. Dale Reed was working to gain support for a research vehicle. The construction of the M2-F1 was a joint effort by Dryden and a local glider manufacturer, the Briegleb Glider Company. The budget was US$30,000. NASA craftsmen and enginee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martin-Marietta X-24
The Martin Marietta X-24 was an American experimental aircraft developed from a joint United States Air Force-NASA program named PILOT (1963–1975). It was designed and built to test lifting body concepts, experimenting with the concept of unpowered reentry and landing, later used by the Space Shuttle. also available as a PDF file'. Originally built as the X-24A, the aircraft was later rebuilt as the X-24B. The X-24 was drop launched from a modified B-52 Stratofortress at high altitudes before igniting its rocket engine; after expending its rocket fuel, the pilot would glide the X-24 to an unpowered landing. Design and development The X-24 was one of a group of lifting bodies flown by the NASA Flight Research Center (now Armstrong Flight Research Center) in a joint program with the U.S. Air Force at Edwards Air Force Base in California from 1963 to 1975. The lifting bodies were used to demonstrate the ability of pilots to maneuver and safely land wingless vehicles designe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northrop Corporation
Northrop Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer from its formation in 1939 until its 1994 merger with Grumman to form Northrop Grumman. The company is known for its development of the flying wing design, most successfully the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber.Parker, Dana T. ''Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II,'' pp. 93-106, Cypress, CA, 2013. . History Jack Northrop founded 3 companies using his name. The first was the Avion Corporation in 1928, which was absorbed in 1929 by the United Aircraft and Transport Corporation as a subsidiary named "Northrop Aircraft Corporation" (and later became part of Boeing). The parent company moved its operations to Kansas in 1931, and so Jack, along with Donald Douglas, established a "Northrop Corporation" located in El Segundo, California, which produced several successful designs, including the Northrop Gamma and Northrop Delta. However, labor difficulties led to the dissolution of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reaction Motors XLR-11
The XLR11, company designation RMI 6000C4, was the first liquid-propellant rocket engine developed in the United States for use in aircraft. It was designed and built by Reaction Motors Inc., and used ethyl alcohol and liquid oxygen as propellants to generate a maximum thrust of . Each of the four combustion chambers produced of thrust. The engine was not throttleable but each chamber could be turned on and off individually. Development Development of the engine began in 1943. Reaction Motors called the engine "Black Betsy", though informally it was referred to as "The Belching Black Bastard". Its first official designation was the 6000C4, and it was later given the military designation XLR11. Operational history The XLR11-RM-5 engine was first used in the Bell X-1. On October 14, 1947, the X-1 became the first aircraft to fly faster than the speed of sound (Mach 1). The XLR11-RM-5 was also used in the X-1A and X-1B, and as a booster engine in the U.S. Navy's D-558-2 Douglas Sk ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northrop M2-F2 Diagram
Northrop may refer to: Businesses * Northrop Corporation, an American aircraft manufacturer formed in 1939 * Northrop Grumman, an American aircraft manufacturer formed in 1994 as a merger of the above company with Grumman * Northrop Loom, an American designed weaving loom Places United States * Northrop, Minnesota, a town * Northrop, Minneapolis, Minnesota, a neighborhood * Northrop Auditorium, on the Minneapolis campus of the University of Minnesota * Northrop Field, a former stadium for the University of Minnesota * Northrop High School, Fort Wayne, Indiana * Northrop University, a former aviation institute * Mount Northrop, Minnesota People * Northrop (surname), including a list of people with the name * Northrop Frye (1912–1991), Canadian literary theorist * Suzane Northrop Suzane Northrop is an author, podcaster, TV show host, and purported psychic medium. She has written at least four books, and hosted the television show, '' The Afterlife with Suzane Northrop''. She ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Fourth Air Force (4 AF) Headquarters and the host 452d Air Mobility Wing (452 AMW), the largest air mobility wing of the Fourth Air Force. In addition to multiple units of the Air Force Reserve Command supporting Air Mobility Command, Air Combat Command and Pacific Air Forces, March ARB is also home to units from the Army Reserve, Navy Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, California Air National Guard and the California Army National Guard. For almost 50 years, March AFB was a Strategic Air Command base during the Cold War. The facility covers 2,075 acres (840 ha) of land., effective 23 May 2019. Units On 1 January 1994, the 722d Air Refueling Wing was activated at then-March AFB to replace the 22d Air Refueling Wing, which was movin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
