Dryden Home > Collections > Photo Home > M2-F1 Aircraft > Photo # ECN-408 |
M2-F1 in flight on tow line | ||
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Photo Number: | ECN-408 | |
Photo Date: | August 28, 1964 | |
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Formats: | 558x480 JPEG Image (53 KBytes) 1190x1024 JPEG Image (498 KBytes) 3030x2606 JPEG Image (7,429 KBytes) |
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Photo Description: |
The M2-F1 Lifting Body is seen here under tow at the Flight Research Center (later redesignated the Dryden Flight Research Center), Edwards, California. | |
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Project Description: |
The wingless, lifting-body aircraft design was initially conceived as a means of landing an aircraft horizontally after atmospheric reentry. The absence of wings would make the extreme heat of re-entry less damaging to the vehicle. In 1962, Flight Research Center management approved a program to build a lightweight, unpowered lifting body as a prototype to flight test the wingless concept. It would look like a "flying bathtub," and was designated the M2-F1, the "M" referring to "manned" and "F" referring to "flight" version. It featured a plywood shell placed over a tubular steel frame crafted at Dryden. Construction was completed in 1963. The M2-F1 project had limited goals. They were to show that a piloted lifting body could be built, that it could not only fly but be controlled in flight, and that it could make a successful landing. While the M2-F1 did prove the concept, with a wooden fuselage and fixed landing gear, it was far from an operational spacecraft. The next step in the lifting-body development was to build a heavyweight, rocket-powered vehicle that was more like an operational lifting body, albeit one without the thermal protection system that would be needed for reentry into the atmosphere from space at near-orbital speeds. The first flight tests of the M2-F1 were over Rogers Dry Lake at the end of a tow rope attached to a hopped-up Pontiac convertible driven at speeds up to about 120 mph. These initial tests produced enough flight data about the M2-F1 to proceed with flights behind a NASA C-47 tow plane at greater altitudes. The C-47 took the craft to an altitude of 12,000 where free flights back to Rogers Dry Lake began. Pilot for the first series of flights of the M2-F1 was NASA research pilot Milt Thompson. Typical glide flights with the M2-F1 lasted about two minutes and reached speeds of 110 to 120 mph. More than 400 ground tows and 77 aircraft tow flights were carried out with the M2-F1. 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, and the U.S. Air Force's X-24 program. The Lifting Body program also heavily influenced the Space Shuttle program. The M2-F1 program demonstrated the feasibility of the lifting body concept for horizontal landings of atmospheric entry vehicles. It also demonstrated a procurement and management concept for prototype flight test vehicles that produced rapid results at very low cost (approximately $50,000, excluding salaries of government employees assigned to the project). |
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NASA Photo by: | NASA photo | |
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Keywords: | M2; M2-F1; Lifting Body; R. Dale Reed; Pontiac; Catalina; convertible; ground-tow; Milt Thompson; C-47; aero tows; proof-of-concept |
Dryden Home > Collections > Photo Home > M2-F1 Aircraft > Photo # ECN-408 |
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Last Modified: February 6, 2002 |