North American XB-70 und X-15 am Boden E-17242

Autor:

NASA

Shortlink:

https://czwiki.cz/b/19d4d

Zdroj:

Wikimedia Commons

Formát:

3030 x 2438 Pixel (3212895 Bytes)

Popis:

The X-15A-2 with drop tanks and ablative coating is shown parked on the NASA ramp in front of the XB-70. These aircraft represent two different approaches to flight research: The X-15 was a research airplane in the purest sense, whereas the XB-70 was an experimental bomber intended for production but diverted to research when production was cancelled by changes in the Department of Defense's offensive doctrine.

The X-15A-2 had been modified from its original configuration with a longer fuselage and drop tanks. To protect it against aerodynamic heating, researchers had coated it with an ablative coating covered by a layer of white paint. These changes allowed the X-15A-2 to reach a maximum speed of Mach 6.7, although it could be sustained for only a brief period.

The XB-70, by contrast, was designed for prolonged high-altitude cruise flight at Mach 3. The aircraft's striking shape--with a long forward fuselage, canards, a large delta wing, twin fins, and a box-like engine bay--allowed it to ride its own Mach 3 shockwave, so to speak. A joint NASA-Air Force program used the aircraft to collect data in support of the U.S supersonic transport (SST) program, which never came to fruition because of environmental concerns.

Licence:

Public domain

Credit:

https://web.archive.org/web/20090407124828/http://www1.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/Fleet/HTML/E-17242.html

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