DFRC Photo #	Photo Date	Image Description
		Hyper III Photo Collection Contact Sheet
ECN-2304	September 10, 1969	Hyper III on ramp
ECN-2301	September 10, 1969	Hyper III on ramp, front view
E-20464	September 10, 1969	Hyper III on ramp with single-piece pivot wing installed & Princeton sailwing on ground, with Danial C. Garrabrant
ECN-2059	June 26, 1968	Radio controlled mothership, Hyper III, and M2-F2 models on lakebed with research staff (need names)
ECN-1880	1963	Hyper III and M2-F2 models on lakebed with radio controlled Mothership

Additional Information

In support of the M2 lifting body program in the early 1960s, Dale Reed had built a number of small lifting body shapes and drop tested them from a radio controlled mothership. By late 1968, "Mother" had made over 120 launch drops. Next, Reed devised a program in which NASA research pilot Milt Thompson could remotely pilot "Mother" using an '8-ball' attitude indicator from the ground. Next, Reed and Thompson wanted to try the remote flying concept on a full scale design.

Because of his interest in lifting bodies, Reed chose the Langley Hyper III configuration, a slender re-entry shape with a flat bottom and sides. The Hyper III had a lift-to-drag ratio of about 3, and was designed with a fixed wing simulating a pop-out wing concept that could be used to increase the low-speed glide ratio of an actual re-entry vehicle.

The Hyper III was built at the center's shop for about $6500. The RPRV weighed 220 kilograms, measured 9.7 meters in length, and spanned 5.6 meters.

On December 12, 1969, the Hyper III was launched from a helicopter at 3000 meters, glided five kilometers, reversed course and glide five kilometers to its only landing.

Pilot Milt Thompson exhibited some suprising reactions during the Hyper III flight; he behaved as if he were in the cockpit of an actual research aircraft.

"I was really stimulated emotionally and physically in exactly the same manner that I have been during actual first flights." "Flying the Hyper III from a ground cockpit was just as dramatic as an actual flight in any of the other vehicles...responsibility rather than fear of personal safety is the real emotional driver. I have never come out of a simulator emotionally and physically tired as is often the case after a test flight in a research aircraft. I was emotionally and physically tired after a 3-minute flight of the Hyper III."

Although encouraged by the Hyper III RPRV configuration, the Center cancelled the program after this one flight since the aircraft had a much lower lift-to-drag ratio than predicted.

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