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Author
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Topic: 9/20: Aerospace Legacy Foundation: X-15
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E2M Lem Man
Member Posts: 846
From: Los Angeles CA. USA
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 08-27-2009 12:32 AM
   
"There was a demon who lived in the thin air - they said that whoever challenged him would die..." If you remember that line from the epic movie "The Right Stuff" and never read the book of the same name, you only got half of the story!*
In 1959, 50 years ago, Scott Crossfield who beat Chuck Yeager to Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound), first flew in powered flight the ultimate airplane-spaceship, the mighty X-15, on September 16, 1959. We will honor the X-15 on September 20, 2009 and all who helped build and fly her!
The Aerospace Legacy Foundation, in our next regular scheduled meeting, will tell the history of the X-15 and have a special report about the "Columbia Memorial Space Center", due to open shortly. The meeting will be held on the Downey site in the "Discovery" room, 12214 Lakewood Blvd. Downey, CA. at 1:30 P.M. on September 20, 2009 (check in with the guard). Seating will be limited.
The X-15 was our first true spaceship - built to go past Mach 3 to Mach 4, to Mach 5, and beyond Mach 6! It was the first winged, human controlled spaceship that flew to altitudes of 354,000 feet routinely and flew a record 199 times. As the Downey Division of NAA grew up and took on Apollo, it also took over X-15 operations from 1961 to 1968.It is the story of Scott Crossfield who helped design this black winged wonder in the hopes of taking it himself into space, but was shut out over politics, and Neil A. Armstrong who left after flying the X-15 seven times and went on to the Moon.
It is also the story of Senator Pete Knight, the fastest man on Earth who flew X-15 to Mach 6.7 in October of 1967... and barely made it home. Sadly, It is also the story of Major Mike Adams, who paid the ultimate price a pilot could pay as the first American to perish in a spaceflight in Nov. 1967.
The Aerospace Legacy Foundation encourages anyone with memories or artifacts from X-15 to come and display them for the meeting. A special model display, "X-planes salute to the X-15" will show a history of the colorful experimental airplanes from X-1 to X-45.
* The X-15 part of the book was prepared for the movie but it was decided not to go forward with filming it, and make it mostly about Yeager and the Mercury astronauts. The X-15 mockup that was constructed for the film is now on display at Pima Air Museum in Arizona. |
albatron
Member Posts: 2732
From: Stuart, Florida
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted 08-27-2009 08:02 PM
Don't forget Bob White, who set 8 records in this bird, one of which being the first to fly a winged vehicle into space!This is excellent - I hope it goes well! |
E2M Lem Man
Member Posts: 846
From: Los Angeles CA. USA
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 08-28-2009 06:41 PM
Bob White was the first to fly this black bird to mach 3, 4, 5, and 6, and he will not be forgotten! |
E2M Lem Man
Member Posts: 846
From: Los Angeles CA. USA
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 08-30-2009 11:24 AM
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RocketPoke
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posted 08-31-2009 08:28 AM
Any RSVP required since it mentioned seating is limited? I plan on coming down. Sounds like a great event! |
E2M Lem Man
Member Posts: 846
From: Los Angeles CA. USA
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 08-31-2009 04:00 PM
No RSVP's but mention my name and get there early and we will get you a good seat!...and who can tell me who the people are in the photograph? Hint: it was a very important moment in X-15 History?! |
Jurg Bolli
Member Posts: 977
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 08-31-2009 04:15 PM
Armstrong, White, Crossfield? |
E2M Lem Man
Member Posts: 846
From: Los Angeles CA. USA
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 09-01-2009 01:59 PM
Jurg, very good! You got the people right.Neil Armstrong, Bob White and Scott Crossfield - now the event and the date - if you please? |
heng44
Member Posts: 3386
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 09-02-2009 11:19 AM
This was when the program officially was turned over from North American to NASA, February 3, 1960. |
E2M Lem Man
Member Posts: 846
From: Los Angeles CA. USA
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 09-02-2009 02:20 PM
Ed, so close, but you got the month. It was Febuary 8, 1961, the actual turn over date of #1 and #2 X-15's. Scott Crossfield of North American turned over the keys (actually his car or his Bonanza keys) to Neil Armstrong and NASA and Robert White of the U.S. Air Force. Thanks for playing! Here's a photo...  |
E2M Lem Man
Member Posts: 846
From: Los Angeles CA. USA
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 09-03-2009 04:10 PM
Ed, a historian should ALWAYS double check his facts and dates! I apologize, in different documents it is listed as different dates. In one (Jenkins 2003) document as Feb. 3, 1960 and in another (Tregaskis, 1961) the turn over was listed with photo as Feb. 28, 1960. You are a steely eyed rocket man! |
heng44
Member Posts: 3386
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 09-03-2009 11:58 PM
Jim, so we still don't know the right date, do we?  |
E2M Lem Man
Member Posts: 846
From: Los Angeles CA. USA
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 09-04-2009 01:22 PM
Dang it, you are right Ed, Do you know the date that they took these series of pictures? I think I would go with Feb. 28 as that picture shows the officials gathered around 66670 for the event. Let me know! |
heng44
Member Posts: 3386
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 09-04-2009 01:43 PM
I think Tony Landis would know the answer... |
MikeD
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posted 09-04-2009 04:51 PM
This bird has a special meaning to me. I recall my dad coming home. He worked there at the skunk works, and the day they rolled out the X-15 he was so proud to say he kissed the nose of the first X-15. That was I think the proudest moment in his life as he often liked to think of that bird. He said he really had no idea what it was he made, he was given a blue print, he made the parts by milling, grinding and such (years before the computer and lasers we could make it by hand) and have it tested for in spec. Then they gave him another print and off he went. He made eight items for the X-15 and to the end he had no idea what they were for but suspects some parts were for some type of mechanical hydraulic system. That was how it was on the floor workers. Never knowing what it was truly for until the rollout, and even then, not knowing what it was they made. He was my dad, Virgil Davis Jr., He passed away 5 years ago now.
If anyone out there could ever tell me what part he made, I would surely like to know and be appreciate greatly. |
E2M Lem Man
Member Posts: 846
From: Los Angeles CA. USA
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 09-11-2009 02:06 PM
Yeah, it's the people like Virgil Davis and so many others that allowed X-15 to be such an innovation and success.I am inviting anyone in the Los Angeles area to bring their mementos and stories to tell the PEOPLE story of the X-15. I did make a mistake though. The address is 12214 Lakewood Blvd. in Downey, not 122214 - argh! I look forward to meeting fellow cSpacers! |
E2M Lem Man
Member Posts: 846
From: Los Angeles CA. USA
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 09-22-2009 03:38 PM
Well, the program went very well, but the NASA-Dryden crowd was busy with "Discovery" and could not make it. Famed photographer Tony Landis and the new NASA website kept us working and adding data points up to Saturday night when I received this note from the family of X-15 designer and pilot, Scott Crossfield: On behalf of my father, Scott Crossfield, the Scott Crossfield Foundation, and the Aerospace Legacy Foundation, we would like to thank you for coming to this presentation honoring the 50th anniversary of the first powered flight of the X-15. The X-15 was the world's first space ship. My father worked on it from it's inception here at North American Aviation until it was turned over to NASA, the U.S. Air Force, and Navy in 1960. It went on to complete 199 flights and was the predecessor to Project's Mercury through Apollo and the Space Shuttle. It led to new materials and even the way we today handle spacecraft mission control and the guidance systems that took Apollo to the Moon. As we will soon see the end of the Space Shuttle era, if my father were here, he would be actively working to see other high speed spacecraft like the Hypersonic transport - that kind of transport is our future and will some day be available to the masses. It was fitting that only 5 years ago SpaceShipOne roared through the same Mojave skies allowing us to see the promise that very soon we can travel as the X-15 did into the fringes of space. Thank you for taking time out to remember the X-15 and the men who flew it. Sincerely,
Sally Crossfield Farley and the Scott Crossfield Foundation I am grateful to Scott's daughter for the message, and she has become a wonderful friend, carrying on her father's educational mission.NASA History division provided posters to whoever answered an X-15 Trivia question correctly. Thanks to everyone who assisted me, and made the effort to come out. |
X-Plane Fan
Member Posts: 150
From: CA, USA
Registered: Jul 2007
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posted 09-22-2009 04:52 PM
The acceptance and signover date for X-15 # 1 was Feb. 3, 1960 with the formal acceptance ceremony listed as Feb. 25. The shot with the two X-15's together with Crossfield, White and Armstrong was indeed taken when ship 2 was officially accepted by NASA on Feb. 8, 1961. Hope that helps. |
E2M Lem Man
Member Posts: 846
From: Los Angeles CA. USA
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 09-23-2009 04:02 PM
Last night, I was looking in the book "X-15 Diary" (Tregaris-1961) and there is a photo of the handover ceremony dated Feb. 26 (w/Bickle, Storms, and AF General)? I am confused now! |
RocketPoke
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posted 09-26-2009 11:53 AM
Sorry I missed it. Was caught between business trips and needed to take time for the fam. quote:
Originally posted by E2M Lem Man:
...and have a special report about the "Columbia Memorial Space Center", due to open shortly.
Can you give us a rundown on the updates for the Columbia Memorial? |
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