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X-3 Aircraft Photo Gallery Contact Sheet X-3 Aircraft Photo Gallery Contact Sheet

Photo Number: N/A
Photo Date: N/A

Formats: Low Resolution Image Contact Sheet (47 KBytes)
Medium Resolution Image Contact Sheet (47 KBytes)
High Resolution Image Contact Sheet (47 KBytes)

Photo
Description:
These are the image contact sheets for each image resolution of the NASA Dryden X-3 Aircraft Photo Gallery.

Project
Description:
The Douglas X-3, known as the Stiletto, was built to investigate the design of an aircraft suitable for sustained supersonic speeds. The X-3 was intended for sustained flight research above Mach 2, but was hampered by use of underpowered Westinghouse J34 turbojet engines which could not power the aircraft past Mach 1 in level flight. This aircraft was built by the Douglas Aircraft Company.

The X-3 had, perhaps, the most highly refined supersonic airframe of its day as well as other important advances including one of the first machined structures. It included the first use of titanium in major airframe components. Its long fuselage gave the Stiletto a high-fineness ratio and a low-aspect ratio (the ratio of the wing’s span to its chord; in other words, a long fuselage with short and stubby wings). Despite this refined configuration, the maximum speed it attained was Mach 1.21, during a dive. The general consensus was that the aircraft was sluggish and extremely underpowered. The X-3 also demonstrated coupling instability during abrupt rolling maneuvers, which could cause it to go wildly out of control, as happened on a flight on Oct. 27, 1954, with National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) pilot Joe Walker at the controls.

The principle contribution of the X-3 was its data on inertial coupling (roll divergence)--a tendency to diverge from the intended flight path. The aircraft also shed its small tires routinely, leading to a revision of the design criteria for tires used on high-speed aircraft. This aircraft flew 20 times between 1954 and 1956 at the NACA High-Speed Flight Station (predecessor of NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California). Joe Walker was the pilot for all 20 of these missions. The X-3’s first flight was in October 1952 with Douglas test pilot Bill Bridgeman in the cockpit. The Air Force completed a brief evaluation of the airplane in 1953 and 1954 before turning it over to the NACA in the summer of 1954.


NASA Photo by: N/A

Keywords: X-3; Stiletto; Douglas Aircraft Company; NACA; National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics; Joe Walker; inertial coupling; Bill Bridgeman; High-Speed Flight Station; Westinghouse; J34 turbojet; tires


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