The D-558 aircraft were part of a transonic research program originated by NACA and the U.S. Navy. The D-558-1 Skystreak turbojet was designed in 1945 and first flew in 1947 at Muroc. It quickly set... More > a new world speed record of over 650
miles per hour. Although it approached Mach 1.0 in level flight, the Skystreak could only break the speed of sound in a dive. The successor aircraft, the D-558-2 Skyrocket, was equipped with a turbojet and the same rocket system as Bell’s X-1. The jet was used for takeoff and landing,
and the rockets allowed the aircraft to travel into the transonic zone. The Skyrocket test program began in 1948. In 1953, Scott Cross-
field bested that mark and flew into aviation history when he became the first person to reach Mach 2.0 in the plane. Originally printed by the U.S. Navy, NACA and Douglas, this book contains
manuals for both of these amazing aircraft. Originally classified “Restricted”, they have been declassified and are here reprinted in
book form.< Less
Designed without horizontal stabilizers, the X-4 Bantam had a semi-tailless design that bore some resemblance to Germany’s Me-163 rocket plane. The small, twin-jet craft relied on combined... More > elevator and aileron surfaces — known as elevons — for pitch and roll control. The role of the X-4 was to explore the transonic speed zone, and to determine whether the design would lessen the stability and control problems affiliated with compressibility. Although two Bantams were built, only one proved mechanically sound. The second was flown over eighty times by Northrop, Air Force and NACA pilots. They learned that the X-4 was sensitive in pitch, and showed a tendency to “hunt” about all three axes as it approached Mach 1.0. Thus, the X-4’s design proved a failure. Originally printed by Northrop, NACA and the USAF, this handbook provides a fascinating glimpse inside the cockpit of this experimental plane. The manual was recently declassified and is here reprinted
in book form.< Less
In the late 1940’s and early 50’s, planes flew
higher and faster than anyone had dreamed
possible. The jet age had arrived, and along
with it came turbojet and rocket-powered
aircraft... More > capable of flying beyond the speed
of sound. To assess these aircraft, the Air
Research and Development Command
developed a series of data reduction methods,
and then compiled them in this Flight Test
Engineering Manual. It served as a standard
technical reference for the flight test
engineers, program managers, pilots and
support teams for many of the X-plane
programs of the 1950s. This reprint represents the first time in over fifty years that this book has been available, and the first time it has ever been made available to the public. it’s a unique time capsule that provides insight into the era
of “The Right Stuff”, when slide rules and
punch cards were the cutting edge, and a must-have for anyone interested in the technical aspects of flight test.< Less
