posted 09-13-2019 03:59 PM               

Space Cover #532: NASA Lifting Body Aircraft and pilots

From 1963 to 1975, six different Lifting Body research aircraft (M2-F1, M2-F2, M2-F3, HL-10, X-24A and X-24B) made a total of 221 test flights at Edwards AFB, CA. These six aircraft were flown by a total of 14 test pilots, which include Chuck Yeager, MIlt Thompson, Bill Dana, John Manke and Dick Scobee.

These wingless aircraft were used to test and verify the concept of returning aircraft from orbital flight and landing them on a runway. These Lifting Body flights provided data that contributed significantly to the development of the US Space Shuttle and contributed to the successful landings of the space shuttle orbiters.

The cover above at the top is an M2-F3 cover and is autographed by the nine test pilots who flew at least one of the three M2 aircraft (M2-F1, M2-F2 and M2-F3). These M2 flights, as well as all Lifting Body flights, involved being carried to launch altitude by a mothership and being released for free flights. Three other test pilots flew on the M2-F1, but only on tethered, ground tests pulled at 120 mph by a car. Two of these pilots were Fred Haise and Joe Engle (By the way, the autographs on this M2-F3 cover required nine separate mailings from 1978 (Yeager) to 1986 (Manke) to complete).

The bottom cover is an HL-10 cover. The first flight of the HL-10 was in December 1966. It later achieved a top speed of mach 1.86 and a top altitude of 90,030 feet and accomplished 36 flights. Piloting the HL-10 and signing this cover were John Manke, Bill Dana, Jerry Gentry, Pete Hoag and Bruce Peterson.

The top cover above is an X-24A cover. The X-24A's first flight was in April 1969 and three pilots, Jerry Gentry, John Manke and Cecil Powell, carried out its 28 flights. The X-24A achieved a top speed of mach 1.6 and a top altitude of 71,400 feet.

The cover at the bottom marks the final X-24B flight and is autographed by the six X-24B pilots. The X-24B made 36 flights, with the first flight on August 1, 1973. Its top speed was 1,164 mph and its highest altitude was 74,130 feet. John Manke made 16 flights, followed by Mike Love with 12, and with Bill Dana, Dick Scobee and Tom McMurtry making two flights each.

Sadly, two of the six X-24B pilots had tragic deaths, with Mike Love dying in an aircraft crash at Edwards AFB shortly after the end of the X-24B program and Dick Scobee dying aboard Challenger on 51L.

posted 09-15-2019 01:29 PM               

It was the same time period that we both starting collecting covers of the different lifting body test flight projects and getting them signed by their research pilots at NASA's Dryden/Edwards AFB.

For some reason, though, it had been difficult for me in contacting two of the pilots; Peter Hoag and Cecil Powell. For some unknown reason(s), several of my mail requests to those HL-10/X-24A pilots went unanswered and with the lost of some flight covers in getting them signed.

Of course, though, on the other hand, most of the NASA and military research pilots were by far excellent and very accommodating! Besides honoring their many autograph requests through the mail, most of the lifting body pilots went beyond "expanding the envelope so-to-speak" in providing signed photos and letter correspondences. Some of the best were John Manke, Bill Dana, Tom McMurtry, Milt Thompson, Mike Love, and future-to-be shuttle astronaut Dick Scobee as a B-52 drop pilot and X-24B flier.

I'm sure that Bob would agree, along with some other early collectors, that those were certainly the days of fun collecting, enthusiasm, and even challenges at times in trying to acquire carried/flown covers from some of the pilots.

posted 09-16-2019 04:49 PM               

I'm guessing he had been very ill, as he had always been great for me prior.

posted 09-17-2019 06:32 AM               

It's a worrisome way to collect autographs, with everything lost and wasted, including previous autographs, time and effort, if the request doesn't return.

posted 09-17-2019 12:56 PM               

Even though most of those mailed-in requests were to current NASA astronauts still working at JSC, there were a few Apollo crewmen no longer with the space agency at Houston during that time. Such requests had to be mailed separately to those ex-astronauts, which of course, in many cases already did contain prior-astronaut signatures.

But in the long-run, I would say more than 90% of those earlier mailed-in requests were indeed honored, mostly with authentic autographs, while a limited few did contain autopens.

But it was a different time frame and mindset during the 1970's. Nowadays, in trying to request signatures through the mail, it's a much different era or culture than it had been so many decades ago.

NASA public relations during the Apollo/Skylab/ASTP and early shuttle program years, in fact for the most part, were helpful and cooperative with space fans and collectors.