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Author
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Topic: Photo of the week 514 (August 30, 2014)
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heng44
Member Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 08-30-2014 02:39 AM
   
 The X-15 no.1 is carried beneath the wing of the NB-52 aircraft for flight 1-A-18 on August 11, 1960, with pilot Bob White in the cockpit. Loss of nitrogen source pressure forced an abort and the flight was successfully launched the following day. |
mach3valkyrie
Member Posts: 719
From: Albany, Oregon
Registered: Jul 2006
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posted 08-30-2014 03:08 AM
I like how the wingtip flexes on the B-52. This is just a beautiful shot, sun rays and blue sky. That's what we're talking about. Great!Thanks Ed.
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Headshot
Member Posts: 864
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 08-30-2014 07:09 AM
This is really a great picture, Ed, on so many levels. If the horizon had been level, it would have diminished the impact of the image, but tilting the horizon as seen adds so much. The orange paint on the B-52's engine nacelles adds just the right amount of bright colorI used to follow X-15 flights in Life, Look and The Saturday Evening Post magazines because when/if they ran X-15 stories, they sometimes printed pictures in color ... very dramatic way back then. I do not remember ever seeing this image before. Do you know who took the picture? Looks like it might be a Dean Conger shot.
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Jurg Bolli
Member Posts: 977
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 08-30-2014 09:20 AM
Fabulous shot! |
mach3valkyrie
Member Posts: 719
From: Albany, Oregon
Registered: Jul 2006
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posted 08-30-2014 09:28 AM
Weren't the cameras for these shots set up on a fixed mount and activated by a crew member, possibly the co-pilot?Dean Conger was a photographer for National Geographic Magazine. I know he was later on loan to NASA to document the Freedom 7 Mercury mission. And after that, the X-15. You're right, it looks like it could be one of his. If you have the chance, check out the article "I Fly the X-15" by Joseph A. Walker, NASA, in the September 1962 National Geographic Magazine. Well worth a look. |
cspg
Member Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006
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posted 08-30-2014 09:46 AM
WOW! What a picture! Simply beautiful. I want a poster of it.  |
heng44
Member Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 08-30-2014 11:45 AM
The photo is credited to Air Force Flight Center. Photos from this vantage point were indeed taken by a camera mounted in the bubble window of the B-52. I believe Dean Conger made similar shots, but later in the program. |
Michael Davis
Member Posts: 528
From: Houston, Texas
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 08-30-2014 12:47 PM
A truly great photo. Thank you for sharing this. |
sev8n
Member Posts: 234
From: Dallas TX USA
Registered: Jul 2012
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posted 08-31-2014 09:14 PM
quote:
Originally posted by mach3valkyrie:
If you have the chance, check out the article "I Fly the X-15" by Joseph A. Walker, NASA, in the September 1962 National Geographic Magazine. Well worth a look.
This link points to a scan of the article.  |
Lou Chinal
Member Posts: 1306
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007
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posted 09-01-2014 10:18 AM
Thanks Ed, for letting a bunch of us relive our childhoods. |
E2M Lem Man
Member Posts: 846
From: Los Angeles CA. USA
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 09-01-2014 06:33 PM
These are great pics, Ed!Those were wonderful days — when we were ready to conquer the skies! |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 09-04-2014 08:56 AM
In fact the X-15 program also tested "space telescopes"  |
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