| NASA Center: |
Dryden Flight Research Center |
| Image # : |
E-2478 |
|---|
| Date : |
01/01/1956
|
|---|
|
Title
D-558-2 Dropped from B-29 Mothership
Full Description
The D-558-2 #2 is launched from the P2B-1 in this 1956 NACA High-Speed Flight
Station photograph.
The D-558 Phase Two aircraft was quite different from its Phase One predecessor,
the Skystreak. German wartime aeronautical research records, reviewed in 1945 by
Douglas Aircraft Company personnel, pointed to many advantages gained from
incorporating sweptback wing design into future research aircraft. These
findings along with wind tunnel studies performed by the National Advisory
Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory,
resulted in the modification of the straight wing D-558-1 Skystreak contract to
include investigation of sweptback wings.
Three redesigned aircraft were built by Douglas Aircraft Company under a
contract from the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics and named D-558-2 Skyrocket.
Originally all three were designed for ground take-off and used mixed power
propulsion systems, consisting of a turbojet engine for take-off and a rocket
engine, for greater speed in flight.
The early flight tests were made using only the turbojet engine with the rocket
engines added, when available. As the flight program evolved, only one D-558-2
ended-up powered by a mixed rocket and turbo-jet propulsion system.
From the experience gained during the X-1 rocket program and from Skyrocket
mixed propulsion flights, the Navy and the NACA proceeded to have all three of
the D-558-2 aircraft modified for air launching from a Navy-operated P2B-1
Superfortress (Navy version of the Air Force B-29), later becoming NACA 137.
Although not designated an "X vehicle," the D-558-2 was essentially an X-vehicle
aircraft in design and function, and contributed much to aeronautics research.
Keywords
D-558-2 Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station Edwards Air Force Base
Subject Category
Top 20 Dryden Aircraft, X-Series Aircraft,
Reference Numbers
- Center:
DFRC
- Center Number:
E-2478
- GRIN DataBase Number:
GPN-2000-000251
Source Information
- Creator/Photographer: NACA
- Original Source: DIGITAL
| Resolution | Format | Width
(Pixels) | Height
(Pixels) | Size
(KBytes) |
| Thumbnail |
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90 |
70 |
9 |
| Small |
.jpg |
640 |
500 |
159 |
| Medium |
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1500 |
1172 |
866 |
| Large |
.jpg |
3000 |
2343 |
3,375 |
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Updated Aug 20, 2009
• History Questions: NASA History Office
• Responsible NASA Official: Steve Garber
• Author: Michael Hahn. Editor: Dwayne A. Day
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