X-15 damage

[Paul F Austin]

In Pete Knight's obituary in AvWeek, it mentioned that the record setting
Mach 6+ flight in the X-15A2 resulted in structural damage to the aircraft
that resulted in it being withdrawn from use. Was the damage a result of the
thermal environment or was it the dynamic pressure envirnoment?

[Mark]

Sorry to not have your answer.... Read the same article, quite a feat
(somehow I think it rates a different category of record than the space
shuttle IMHO)

Did find some interesting reading though...

http://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/models/vault/nb-52%20pylons/knight2.jpg

http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/x15a2.htm

http://area51specialprojects.com/x15.html

Hope you enjoy

Mark



"Paul F Austin" > wrote in message
. ..
> In Pete Knight's obituary in AvWeek, it mentioned that the record setting
> Mach 6+ flight in the X-15A2 resulted in structural damage to the aircraft
> that resulted in it being withdrawn from use. Was the damage a result of
the
> thermal environment or was it the dynamic pressure envirnoment?
>
>

[Paul A. Suhler]

At dejanews.com, you can see the story of the dummy ramjet's recovery:
Message-ID: >

Mark > wrote:
>Sorry to not have your answer.... Read the same article, quite a feat
>(somehow I think it rates a different category of record than the space
>shuttle IMHO)
>
>Did find some interesting reading though...
>
>http://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/models/vault/nb-52%20pylons/knight2.jpg
>
>http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/x15a2.htm
>
>http://area51specialprojects.com/x15.html
>
>Hope you enjoy
>
>Mark
>
>
>
>"Paul F Austin" > wrote in message
. ..
>> In Pete Knight's obituary in AvWeek, it mentioned that the record setting
>> Mach 6+ flight in the X-15A2 resulted in structural damage to the aircraft
>> that resulted in it being withdrawn from use. Was the damage a result of
>the
>> thermal environment or was it the dynamic pressure envirnoment?

[B2431]

>From: "Paul F Austin"

>
>In Pete Knight's obituary in AvWeek, it mentioned that the record setting
>Mach 6+ flight in the X-15A2 resulted in structural damage to the aircraft
>that resulted in it being withdrawn from use. Was the damage a result of the
>thermal environment or was it the dynamic pressure envirnoment?

If I remember right it was the one that broke its back on a rough landing. It
was filmed and I bet there's a video clip around somewhere.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

[George Ruch]

(B2431) wrote:

>>From: "Paul F Austin"
>
>>
>>In Pete Knight's obituary in AvWeek, it mentioned that the record setting
>>Mach 6+ flight in the X-15A2 resulted in structural damage to the aircraft
>>that resulted in it being withdrawn from use. Was the damage a result of the
>>thermal environment or was it the dynamic pressure envirnoment?
>
>If I remember right it was the one that broke its back on a rough landing. It
>was filmed and I bet there's a video clip around somewhere.

Dan,

I found the photo of the incident you're thinking of at the NASA Dryden
site: http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/X-15/HTML/E-9543.html

I remember seeing the aftermath of the hypersonic flight on one of the
cable channels (History? Discovery Wings?) but haven't yet found the site.
IIRC, the damage that grounded X-15 #2 was from the thermal environment. I
have a mental picture of the rear of the aircraft (horizontal stab, skin
near the engine bell) burned through. Will keep looking.

| George Ruch
| "Is there life in Clovis after Clovis Man?"

[william cogswell]

George is correct, The damage was from the shockwave impingement on the
ventral by the dummy scramjet


"George Ruch" > wrote in message
>
> I remember seeing the aftermath of the hypersonic flight on one of the
> cable channels (History? Discovery Wings?) but haven't yet found the site.
> IIRC, the damage that grounded X-15 #2 was from the thermal environment.
I
> have a mental picture of the rear of the aircraft (horizontal stab, skin
> near the engine bell) burned through. Will keep looking.
>
> | George Ruch
> | "Is there life in Clovis after Clovis Man?"

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"B2431" > wrote in message
...
>
> If I remember right it was the one that broke its back on a rough
> landing. It was filmed and I bet there's a video clip around somewhere.
>

X-15 #2 suffered a fuselage structure failure on it's third flight, 11/5/59.
It also suffered serious damage three years later when it was landed without
flaps. The high speed caused the left main landing gear to collapse. The
rebuild produced the X-15A-2 version.

[Peter Stickney]

In article >,
"Paul F Austin" > writes:
> In Pete Knight's obituary in AvWeek, it mentioned that the record setting
> Mach 6+ flight in the X-15A2 resulted in structural damage to the aircraft
> that resulted in it being withdrawn from use. Was the damage a result of the
> thermal environment or was it the dynamic pressure envirnoment?

Thermal environment, but with special circumstances. Some of teh
shockwaves from the dummy rscramjet and its pylon impinged in the
ventral fin, causing local heating of teh surface above and beyond
what would normally be encountered.

--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster