Page 5 - Aerotech News and Review, October 1, 2021

On this date ...

Oct. 2, 1941: Bell Chief Test Pilot Bob Stanley
took the XP-59A Airacomet on its “official” first Oct. 4, 2004: SpaceShipOne made its second successful
flight, climbing to 6,000 feet after an unusually spaceflight in five days from the Mojave Air and Space
long takeoff roll. Col. Laurence C. “Bill” Craigie, Port, in California’s High Desert, to win the Ansari X Prize.
chief of the Experimental Aircraft Section at Wright With Brian Binnie at the helm, the spacecraft reached
Field, Ohio, then flew the airplane, becoming the Mach 3.09, and flew for 23 minutes and 56 seconds. In this
nation’s first military jet pilot. Scaled Composites photograph, SpaceShipOne sits below
Oct. 2, 1981: The B-1 program is restarted as President Ronald the mothership, White Knight as it flies above Southern
Reagan announces an order of 100 B-1Bs for the U.S. Air Force. The California.
B-1 was first envisioned in the 1960s as a platform that would combine
the Mach 2 speed of the B-58 Hustler with the range and payload of
the B-52, and was meant to ultimately replace both bombers. After a
long series of studies, Rockwell International (now part of Boeing) won
the design contest for what emerged as the B-1A. This version had a
top speed of Mach 2.2 at high altitude and the capability of flying for
long distances at Mach 0.85 at very low altitudes. The combination
of the high cost of the aircraft, the introduction of the AGM-86 cruise
missile that flew the same basic speed and distance, and early
work on the stealth bomber all significantly reduced the need for
the B-1. This led to the program being canceled in 1977, after the
B-1A prototypes had been built. The program was restarted in
Oct. 2, 1969: The first C-5A Galaxy arrived at Edwards Air 1981, largely as an interim measure due to delays in the B-2 stealth
Force Base, Calif., for Category II testing. The Galaxy is bomber program. In this photograph, the first production B-1B aircraft, Oct. 7, 1985: Space Shuttle Atlantis landed on lakebed
a large military transport aircraft designed and built tail number 82-0001, is parked outside a hangar at the Rockwell Runway 23 following its first orbital mission. Atlantis lifted
by Lockheed, and now maintained and upgraded by International facility in Palmdale, Calif. off on its maiden voyage on Oct. 3, 1985, on mission STS-
its successor, Lockheed Martin. It provides the U.S. 51-J, the second dedicated DOD flight. Atlantis was built by
Air Force with a heavy intercontinental-range strategic Rockwell International at its Palmdale, Calif., facility. During
airlift capability, one that can carry outsized and oversized its lifetime, it underwent two schedule overhauls, first in
loads, including all air-certifiable cargo. 1992, and second in 1997, both in Palmdale.

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