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NASA Meatball NASA Dryden D-558-I Aircraft banner
D-558-1 in flight D-558-1 in flight
Photo Number: E-713
Photo Date: May 1952
Formats: 539x480 JPEG Image (83 KBytes)
1150x1024 JPEG Image (434 KBytes)
3000x2670 JPEG Image (3,308 KBytes)
Photo
Description:

This 1952 NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station inflight photograph of the Douglas D-558-1 #3 Skystreak. Even with partial cloud cover the white aircraft was easy to see. The D-558-1 reflected NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) ideas on a transonic research aircraft. NACA engineers favored a turbojet engine, as they saw a rocket-powered research aircraft as too risky. They were also more interested in transonic speed--from about Mach 0.8 to Mach 1.2--than in breaking the "sound barrier" for the sake of doing so. The Army Air Forces had a different approach and developed the rocket-powered XS-1, which the NACA also flew and supported, although it favored the D-558-1.
Project
Description:		 Conceived in 1945, the D-558-1 Skystreak was designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company for the U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, in conjunction with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The Skystreaks were turojet powered aircraft that took off from the ground under their own power and had straight wings and tails. All three D-558-1 Skystreaks were powered by Allison J35-A-11 turbojet engines producing 5,000 pounds of thrust. All the Skystreaks were initially painted scarlet, which lead to the nickname “crimson test tube.” NACA later had the color of the Skystreaks changed to white to improve optical tracking and photography. The Skystreaks carried 634 pounds of instrumentation and were ideal first-generation, simple, transonic research airplanes. Much of the research performed by the D-558-1 Skystreaks, was quickly overshadowed in the public mind by Chuck Yeager and the X-1 rocketplane. However, the Skystreak performed an important role in aeronautical research by flying for extended periods of time at transonic speeds, which freed the X-1 to fly for limited periods at supersonic speeds.
NASA Photo by: NASA photo
Keywords: D-558-1 Aircraft; D-558-1; Douglas D-558-I Skystreak Aircraft; Douglas Aircraft Company; U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics; NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station; National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics; XS-1; Army Air Forces.

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