Flightline: 42/TBD

"user314" (user314) 09/08/2020 at 11:00 • Filed to: flightline, Planelopnik, planelopnik history, Spacelopnik, nasa, ISS, space

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NASA’s Lifting Bodies, From left to right: X-24A, M2-F3 and HL-10.

Going back to the first experiments, man has tried to fly by copying the wings of birds, bats, and to a lesser extent, insects. In 1917 however, a patent was filed by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! for an aircraft without wings at all. Instead of a flying wing, where the body is entirely wing, Scroggs proposed a fuselage shape where the fuselage would act as a low-aspect ratio delta wing. Flight testing allegedly took place in 1930, but the aircraft did not perform well, and it was damaged in an accident.

The Last Laugh, an aircraft based on Scroggs’ patent

Interest in the idea, now called a “ !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ”, was reignited in the 1960s as the Space Race heated up, and NACA/NASA and the USAF began to look into building aircraft that could go into space and back and be maneuverable for the entire flight, as opposed to capsules like those used for Mercury and Gemini, which were launched on converted ICBMs and returned to Earth ballistically, with little to no control. While the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! proved the idea of a ‘space plane’ could work, but the plane faced incredible heat and drag, and a simpler design was desired.

In 1962 NASA began work at the Dryden Flight Research Center, with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (The “M” was NASA’s designation for ‘manned’ aircraft, the “F” for ‘flight version’) taking flight in 1963.

The M2-F1, with its Pontiac Bonneville tow car.

A joint effort by Dryden and local glider manufacturer !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the M2-F1 was hand built from mahogany, was built for a budget of $30,000 ($254,000 today), and had the landing gear from a Cessna 150 (later traded for gear from a Cessna 180). As the M2 had no engine, a tow car was suggested, with a 421 Catalina Convertible being the ‘logical’ choice. Couched as the power-plant for a research vehicle, Congress signed off on the plan and a brand new Catalina, white, with a four-speed but no hubcaps or mufflers, was delivered fresh from Pontiac. The first test was not entirely successful, with the car not powerful enough to drag the M2-F1 aloft, and the vehicle more bounced from wheel to wheel than flew. The former issue was solved by taking the car to hotrodder Bill Straub to make improvements. A new transmission was fitted, as well as a roll bar and drag slicks. NASA also made modifications to the car, with radios and scientific instruments added, as well as painting the hood and trunk lid yellow, and adding NASA markings. Eventually, four hundred test flights of the M2 were completed, with the car maintaining 100mph for 30 seconds at a time, at 4mpg.

The 421 was eventually replaced by an ex-Navy !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , allowing flights higher than 20 feet, and a small rocket motor was eventually added to boost the -F1 for longer flights. The craft survived its test program, and is now on display at the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! at Edwards AFB.

M at EdasThe M2-F1 under tow from NASA’s R4D

The follow-on to the M2-F1, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , was built by Northrop, and flew for the first time on 12 July 1966.

A “heavyweight” derivation of the previous design, the -F2 was powered by an XLR-11 rocket motor, and was carried aloft and dropped from NASA’s B-52 mother ships. The M2-F2 had a short career, with only 15 successful glide tests completed before the 10 May 1967 flight, which ended in a crash so spectacular that it was featured in the opening credits for !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

Pilot !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! survived the accident (No estimate on how much his hospital stay cost...), though he lost his right eye due to a staph infection. Peterson continued flying for NASA and the USMC Reserves, and stayed on with Dryden until 1981, after which he was hired on with Northrop to work on the B-2 Spirit bomber program.

The M2-F2 was rebuilt (which had to have cost significantly more than six million dollars...) with changes informed by what data the -F2 had compiled. The renamed !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! featured a third tail fin, which provided greater stability and reduced pilot-induced oscillation, a state which contributed to the crash of the -F2.

The rebuilt M2-F3, with its characteristic third tail fin, sits on the dry lakebed at Edwards

The M2-F3 completed 27 flights, eventually reaching speeds of Mach 1.6 and altitudes of 71,500 feet. The -F3 was fitted with an RCS system, similar to a space capsule, and provided a great deal of data about spaceflight. The M2-F3 was retired in 1973, and was donated to the Smithsonian, which placed it on display at the National Air & Space Museum.

NASA’S B-52 shows HL-10 pilot Bill Dana how a plane with wings flies.

Flying concurrently with the M2-F2/-F3, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (Horizontal Landing, model 10), also built by Northrop, first flew on 22 December 1966. In comparison to the M2-F3, the HL-10 featured an inverted airfoil design on a delta planform. Costs were kept down by reusing some components; the main landing gear was from a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the nose gear from a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and an !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! 's ejection seat. Thrust was provided by the same XLR-11 engine as the M2-F2/-F3, and four additional H 2 O 2 rockets were used to pitch the nose up for the pre-landing flare. The HL-10 was judged to be the best flying Lifting Body by her pilots, and through 37 flights the craft achieved Mach 1.83 and a maximum altitude of more than 90,000 feet. After the end of the Apollo program, a proposal was circulated to launch the HL-10 (modified with a heat shield, RCS and life-support) along with a spare !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! into space on a Saturn V. Once in orbit, a robotic arm attached to the Command module would pull the HL-10 from the Saturn’s third stage, at which point one of the astronauts would space walk to the craft and run systems checks. At this point the crew would leave the HL-10 in orbit and return to Earth, then afterwards a second mission would be launched and again a pilot would spacewalk over, but this time the HL-10 would be !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and land back at Edwards. Wernher von Brown was highly enthusiastic about the idea, but NASA was unconvinced about the potential gains to be had versus wasting two Saturn Vs and two Apollo CSMs, so the idea was dropped. The HL-10 is now on display at the Armstrong FRC at Edwards AFB.

The X-24A was flown at Edwards from 1969 until 1972, when it was rebuilt as the X-24B

An outgrowth of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (Precision Reentry Including Maneuvering reEntry) research drone, the X-24 was operated under the joint NASA/USAF PILOT program. Like the other heavyweight lifting bodies, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was carried aloft by a B-52 and dropped, after which its XLR-11 rocket motor would fire, propelling the craft to speeds as high as Mach 1.52 and heights exceeding 70,000 feet. The X-24A proved to be somewhat unstable in flight, and was rebuilt into the X-24B.

The X-24B on approach to Edwards AFB

The X-24B, nicknamed the “Flying Flatiron”, first flew in 1973 and provided data for NASA’s forthcoming STS program. After 36 flights, the X-24B was retired to the USAF Museum.

A minor footnote in the lifting body story, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was a proposed jet-powered trainer for the X-24A, suggested by Chuck Yeager and built by Martin Marietta. One mockup and two flyable examples were built, but NASA and the USAF were uninterested, and test pilot Milt Thompson refused to fly one, even with the promise of a $20,000 bonus. One of the SV-5Js were modified to look like the X-24A, and is on display at the USAF Museum. The other is on display at the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in Colorado Springs. The SV-5J mockup was supposedly used as a prop in several movies before being lost.

Sometimes described as a lifting body, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! Dyna-Soar (“Dynamic Soarer”) was actually a delta-winged space-plane which used the lift generated by its wings to maintain a suborbital but exoatmospheric flight (hence “dynamic soarer”) in a maneuver called “skip-gliding”. Three X-20s were planned: Dyna-Soar I would be a purely research vehicle, while Brass-Bell (later Dyna-Soar II) would be a reconnaissance platform, and RoBo (later Dyna-Soar III) would be a strategic bomber.

Artist’s concept of the X-20 launching on a modified Titan II. Note the oversized fins added to the launcher.

Concepts of the X-20 mounted to different launch vehicles.

The X-20 astronaut corps after September 1962 (front to back): Capt. William Knight, Maj. Russell Rogers, Milton Thompson, Maj. James Wood, Maj. Henry Gordon and Capt. Albert Crews.

Lack of funding, uncertainty over the launch vehicle(s), and competition from the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! program doomed the project though, and only a single mockup was constructed.

NASA would revisit the concept in 1995 with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a technology demonstrator for the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! program, which was looking to develop a “lifeboat” for the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The CRV would have been transported to the station in a Shuttle’s cargo bay, then docked, ready to evacuate either an injured/sick crew member, or the entire compliment in case of disaster. A second crew launch/exploration version was also investigated that could be launched on an Ariane 5 lifter.

X-38 V-132 dropping away from the NB-52 “Balls Eight”

Two prototypes were built, V-131 and V-132, and were modified versions of the X-24A’s design. After several drops to validate the autonomous guidance system and the parafoil wing (the largest ever flown), V-131 was returned to Scaled Composites and a new aeroshell, an 80% version of the final shape, was added.

Rendering of a completed CRV, holding a seven-person crew

Drop tests with V-131-R and V-132 continued until 2001, and the V-201 orbital prototype was 90% complete when the program was canceled in 2002 due to spiraling costs with the ISS and CRV programs. V-131-R is on loan from NASA at the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in Oregon, while V-132 is on loan to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! near Ashland, NE. The incomplete V-201 was left wrapped in netting on a modified boom-lift outside building B49 at the Johnson Space center.

X-38 Vehicle 201 sitting atop its mobile carrier outside B49 of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The X-38 is being stored outside with no protection from the elements.

Lifting body technology was revisited again in 2004, when !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ’s Space Systems division announced the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

What’s old is new again. The Dream Chaser test article is show being towed behind a Ford pickup during braking tests

Originally planed to launch crew to the ISS under NASA’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! program, the Dream Chaser is now being developed into a cargo carrier under the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! program, which has also contracted flights with Orbital ATK (now part of Northrop Grumman), !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Cargo Chaser is modified with folding wings to fit within the 5m payload fairing on a ULA Vulcan lifter, and will also feature “Shooting Star” an expendable module that increases total cargo space, and can be filled with garbage from the station and jettisoned prior to reentry.

The !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! flight of Dream Chaser is scheduled for 14 September 2021 (guys, one day delay please? Love to see this go on my birthday!), and SNC has announced the module has been named !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

Dream Catcher Tenacity, scheduled for launch next year.

SNC is also continuing to work on a crewed version of the Chaser, partnering with t !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! for possible flights within 5 years.

facw > user314 09/08/2020 at 11:15

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though he lost his right eye due to a staph infection. Peterson continued flying for NASA and the USMC Reserves 

I would think losing an eye (and your depth perception) would be an immediate disqualification for flying, but I guess it would be bad for test pilot morale to punish someone who already  lost an eye with grounding.

Just Jeepin' > user314 09/08/2020 at 11:17

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Happy early birthday, since I’m confident I won’t remember by  next Tuesday.

user314 > facw 09/08/2020 at 11:18

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I’m assuming it was infrequent and more ceremonial roles than anything else. Either that or he was one hell of a pilot. 

user314 > Just Jeepin' 09/08/2020 at 11:19

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TY! Another trip around the sun completed...  

facw > user314 09/08/2020 at 11:20

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Also, I know it aired in SD, but I’m always a bit surprised at how hard it is to find a good quality image of Farscape-1 on the internet:

user314 > facw 09/08/2020 at 11:23

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Yeah, have to fish through fan renderings for a good view.

Chariotoflove > user314 09/08/2020 at 11:24

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Well done post!

InFierority Complex > facw 09/08/2020 at 11:25

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“Well, we already spent this much money on him, what’s the worst that could happen?”

user314 > Chariotoflove 09/08/2020 at 11:51

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TY. Took for friggin’ ever though. Was going to be just on the three in the top pic, but I started digging into the history and family tree, and, well, here we are, nearly 2000 words later...

Jim Spanfeller > user314 09/08/2020 at 12:38

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YOU’RE TELLING ME NASA WAS BUILDING FRICKIN A-WING STARFIGHTERS BACK IN THE SIXTIES!? These look like the spaceships of the future I was promised that never arrived! This is good Oppo.

Future next gen S2000 owner > user314 09/08/2020 at 12:45

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This is good oppo.

user314 > Jim Spanfeller 09/08/2020 at 12:52

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Huh, never really made that connection before, but Lucas et al have confirmed in the past that Star Wars spaceships were based on real aircraft (ARC-70 : P-61 Black Widow, Queen’s Spaceship : SR-71) so it wouldn’t surprise me that there’s some influence from the lifting bodies in the R-22/A-Wing design. 

Brian, The Life of > user314 09/08/2020 at 14:19

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Fantastic post! As a child of the 70's who grew up near Dryden, I particularly enjoyed this one :)

Jim Spanfeller > user314 09/08/2020 at 15:38

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My new billionaire fantasy is to commission a team of engineers to build me a real life A-wing, or at least the closest thing to an A-wing that would actually fly.

Urambo Tauro > user314 09/08/2020 at 19:47

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Can’t help but be reminded of those little egg plane thing s: