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Dates |
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Event |
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Constructed as a D-558-2. |
1948 |
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Taken on Strength/Charge with the United States Navy with BuNo 37974. |
2 November 1948 |
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First flight.
At Muroc Dry Lake, CA. |
14 December 1948 |
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Taken on Strength/Charge with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics with s/n 144. |
14 December 1948 |
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Transferred to Flight Test Center, Muroc Army Airfield, CA. |
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Photographer: NASA Dryden Flight Research Cent |
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Photographer: NASA Dryden Flight Research Cent |
1949 |
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Transferred to High-Speed Flight Research Station (HSFRS), Edwards AFB, CA.
Flight Test Center renamed. |
1949 |
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Flown 103 missions. NACA 144 began its flight program with a turbojet power plant. NACA pilots flew 21 times in this configuration to test airspeed calibrations and to research longitudinal and lateral stability and control and in August encountered pitchup problems. |
January 1950 |
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Douglas Aircraft Company replaced the turbojet with an LR-8 rocket engine, and its pilot, William B. Bridgeman, flew the aircraft seven times -- up to a speed of Mach 1.88and an altitude of 79,494 feet (the latteran unofficial world altitude record at the time, achieved on August 15, 1951). Returned to NASA. In the rocket configuration, a Navy P2B launched the airplane at an altitude of approximately 30,000 feet after taking off from the ground with the Skyrocket attached beneath its bomb bay. During Bridgemans supersonic flights, he encountered a violent rolling motion known as lateral instability. The NACA engineers studied the behaviour of this aircraft. |
September 1951 |
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NACA began their own flight research in the airplane. Over the next couple of years, NACA pilot flew the airplane 20 times to gather data on longitudinal and lateral stability and control; wing and tail loads; and lift, drag, and buffeting characteristics at speeds up to Mach 1.878. |
21 August 1953 |
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Reached altitude of 83,235 feet flown by LtCol Marion Carl. |
20 November 1953 |
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Reached speed of Mach 2.005 flown by A. Scott Crossfield. |
20 December 1956 |
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Last flight. |
By August 1974 |
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To Smithsonian-National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC.
 View the Location Dossier |
11 June 1991 |
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Photographer: Glenn Chatfield |
August 2015 |
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Photographer: Gustavo Bonilla |
August 2015 |
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Photographer: Gustavo Bonilla |
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 | | This airframe dossier is based on
unreviewed imported data.
If you can verify the documented history or add to it with additional text and/or photos please feel free to do so by using the upload tool and the history editor. |
