past pictures
of the week
10:06:12 - 10:20:12
10:06:12 -- PICTURES OF THE WEEK: Air Force listing of Project Blue Book Case Files for July, 1952, including each case's final evaluation. Observers names have been blacked out.
10:13:12 -- PICTURES OF THE WEEK: The Douglas X-3 "Stiletto" which made its first test flight at Edwards Air Force Base, California in mid-October, 1952. At just under 67 feet in length, the X-3 was a single-pilot jet aircraft with the primary mission of testing the design features of an aircraft capable of sustained supersonic speeds up to Mach 2, twice the speed of sound. Its unique design included the first use of titanium in major airframe components. And unlike the X-1, X-2 and X-15 rocket planes -- which were released in mid-air from a "mother ship" -- the X-3 was designed to be ground launched under its own power. The first X-3 "hop" was made on 15 October 1952, by Douglas test pilot William Bridgeman. During a high-speed taxi test, Bridgeman lifted the X-3 off the ground and flew it just one mile before settling back onto the lakebed. The official first flight was made by Bridgeman on October 20th, lasting about 20 minutes. Bridgeman would make a total of 26 flights (including the "hop") by the end of the Douglas tests in December 1953. These showed that the X-3 was severely underpowered and difficult to control (engine development difficulties had forced the use of much less powerful engines than originally planned). Between 1954 and 1956 it flew 20 more times at the NACA High-Speed Flight Station (later to become the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center). All 20 flights were piloted by test pilot Joe Walker, who came near death in the X-3 when a roll caused it to go wildly out of control (Walker would die 12 years later in a mid-air collision). Although the X-3 made significant contributions to design research incorporated in the X-15 and SR-71 Blackbird, the X-3 never lived up to its expectations as a Mach 2 aircraft having had trouble even reaching Mach 1 (its maximum recorded speed was Mach 1.21, during a dive). Only one was ever built.
10:20:12 -- PICTURES OF THE WEEK: From the May 11, 1952 edition of the London Illustrated News, a two-page spread featurette on latest Soviet military aviation, titled "Through the Iron Curtain of Russian Security, Solving the Mystery of Soviet Air Strength. Some Modern Russian Fighters, Night Interceptors and Bombers Described and Displayed."
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