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NASA Meatball NASA Dryden AD-1 Oblique Wing banner
AD-1 with research pilot Richard E. Gray AD-1 with research pilot Richard E. Gray

Photo Number: ECN-17954
Photo Date: January 1, 1982

Formats: 356x480 JPEG Image (45 KBytes)
760x1024 JPEG Image (284 KBytes)

Photo
Description:
Standing in front of the AD-1 Oblique Wing research aircraft is research pilot Richard E. Gray.

Richard E. Gray joined National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, in November 1978, as an aerospace research pilot. In November 1981, Dick joined the NASA's Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, California, as a research pilot.

Dick was a former Co-op at the NASA Flight Research Center (a previous name of the Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility), serving as an Operations Engineer.

At Ames-Dryden, Dick was a pilot for the F-14 Aileron Rudder Interconnect Program, AD-1 Oblique Wing Research Aircraft, F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire and Pilot Induced Oscillations investigations. He also flew the F-104, T-37, and the F-15. On November 8, 1982, Gray was fatally injured in a T-37 jet aircraft while making a pilot proficiency flight.

Dick graduated with a Bachelors degree in Aeronautical Engineering from San Jose State University in 1969. He joined the U.S. Navy in July 1969, becoming a Naval Aviator in January 1971, when he was assigned to F-4 Phantoms at Naval Air Station (NAS) Miramar, California. In 1972, he flew 48 combat missions in Vietnam in F-4s with VF-111 aboard the USS Coral Sea. After making a second cruise in 1973, Dick was assigned to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Four (VX-4) at NAS Point Mugu, California, as a project pilot on various operational test and evaluation programs. In November 1978, Dick retired from the Navy and joined NASA's Johnson Space Center. At JSC Gray served as chief project pilot on the WB-57F high-altitude research projects and as the prime television chase pilot in a T-38 for the landing portion of the Space Shuttle orbital flight tests.

Dick had over 3,000 hours in more than 30 types of aircraft, an airline transport rating, and 252 carrier arrested landings. He was a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots serving on the Board of Directors as Southwest Section Technical Adviser in 1981/1982.

Richard E. Gray was born March 11, 1945 in Newport News, Virginia; he died on November 8, 1982 at Edwards, California, in a T-37 spin accident.


Project
Description:
The Ames-Dryden-1 (AD-1) aircraft was designed to investigate the concept of an oblique (pivoting) wing. The wing could be rotated on its center pivot, so that it could be set at its most efficient angle for the speed at which the aircraft was flying.

NASA Ames Research Center Aeronautical Engineer Robert T. Jones conceived the idea of an oblique wing. His wind tunnel studies at Ames (Moffett Field, CA) indicated that an oblique wing design on a supersonic transport might achieve twice the fuel economy of an aircraft with conventional wings. The oblique wing on the AD-1 pivoted about the fuselage, remaining perpendicular to it during slow flight and rotating to angles of up to 60 degrees as aircraft speed increased. Analytical and wind tunnel studies that Jones conducted at Ames indicated that a transport-sized oblique-wing aircraft flying at speeds of up to Mach 1.4 (1.4 times the speed of sound) would have substantially better aerodynamic performance than aircraft with conventional wings.

The AD-1 structure allowed the project to complete all of its technical objectives. The type of low-speed, low-cost vehicle - as expected - exhibited aeroelastic and pitch-roll-coupling effects that contributed to poor handling at sweep angles above 45 degrees. The fiberglass structure limited the wing stiffness that would have improved the handling qualities. Thus, after completion of the AD-1 project, there was still a need for a transonic oblique-wing research aircraft to assess the effects of compressibility, evaluate a more representative structure, and analyze flight performance at transonic speeds (those on either side of the speed of sound).

The aircraft was delivered to the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA, in March 1979 and its first flight was on December 21, 1979. Piloting the aircraft on that flight, as well as on its last flight on August 7, 1982, was NASA Research Pilot Thomas C. McMurtry. The AD-1 flew a total of 79 times during the research program. The aircraft was constructed by the Ames Industrial Co., Bohemia, NY, under a $240,000 fixed-price contract. NASA specified the design based on a geometric configuration provided by the Boeing company. The Rutan Aircraft Factory, Mojave, CA, provided the detailed design and loads analysis for the vehicle.

The aircraft was 38.8 feet long and 6.75 feet high with a wing span of 32.3 feet, unswept. It was constructed of plastic reinforced with fiberglass and weighed 1,450 pounds,empty. The vehicle was powered by two small turbojet engines, each producing 220 pounds of thrust at sea level. Due to safety concerns, the aircraft was limited to speeds of 170 mph.


Keywords: AD-1 Oblique Wing; Richard E. Gray; National Aeronautics and Space Administrations; Johnson Space Center; Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility; NASA Flight Research Center; F-14; F-8; Digital Fly-By-Wire; pilot induced oscillations; F-104; T-37; F-15; T-38; F-4 Phantoms; Naval Air Station; USS Coral Sea; NAS Point Mugu; U.S. Navy; San Jose State University; Space Shuttle; Ames Research Center; Dryden Flight Research Center; NASA; Robert T. Jones; Tom McMurtry; Boeing Co.; Ames Industrial Co.; Rutan Aircraft Factory; Burt Rutan

Keywords: AD-1 movie gallery
AD-1 Project Fact Sheet


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