• Aircraft:

  North American X-15

• Reg: 56-6672 photos
• Serial #:

  240-3

• Airline: United States - US Air Force (USAF)
• Photo Date: Aug 31, 2014
• Uploaded: Nov 30, 2014
• McMinnville Municipal Airport - KMMV, USA - Oregon

Info from Wikipedia: >The North American X-15 was a rocket-powered aircraft operated by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as part of the X-plane series of experimental aircraft. The X-15 set speed and altitude records in the 1960s, reaching the edge of outer space and returning with valuable data used in aircraft and spacecraft design. As of 2014, the X-15 holds the official world record for the highest speed ever reached by a manned, powered aircraft. Its maximum speed was 4,520 miles per hour (7,274 km/h). During the X-15 program, 13 flights by eight pilots met the Air Force spaceflight criterion by exceeding the altitude of 50 miles (80 km), thus qualifying the pilots for astronaut status. The Air Force pilots qualified for astronaut wings immediately, while the civilian pilots were awarded NASA astronaut wings in 2005, 35 years after the last X-15 flight. The sole Navy pilot in the X-15 program never took the aircraft above the requisite 50 mile altitude. Of all the X-15 missions, two flights (by the same pilot) qualified as space flights per the international (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale) definition of a spaceflight by exceeding 100 kilometers (62.1 mi) in altitude The X-15 was based on a concept study from Walter Dornberger for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) for a hypersonic research aircraft. The requests for proposal were published on 30 December 1954 for the airframe and on 4 February 1955 for the rocket engine. The X-15 was built by two manufacturers: North American Aviation was contracted for the airframe in November 1955, and Reaction Motors was contracted for building the engines in 1956. Like many X-series aircraft, the X-15 was designed to be carried aloft and drop launched from under the wing of a NASA B-52 mother ship, the Balls 8. Release took place at an altitude of about 8.5 miles (13.7 km) and a speed of about 500 miles per hour (805 km/h).< This aircraft is now displayed in this beautiful museum. almost an hour driving by car from Portland International Aiport, Oregon

Photographer

Aircraft

FOKKER AIRCRAFT 56-6672

153 3 0 North American X-15

Javier Rodriguez 56-6672

2,190 3 0 North American X-15

Wojtek Kmiecik 56-6672

2,191 1 0 North American X-15

Photo location

Russell Hill N805HC

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Yan777 6537

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Yan777 N90GC

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Photographer

Jeroen Stroes HA-LTK

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Jeroen Stroes VP-BMU

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Jeroen Stroes TF-ISW

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