Page 11 - Aerotech News and Review, September 17, 2021

On this date ...

Sept. 19, 1962: The Aero Spacelines Pregnant Guppy made its first
flight from Van Nuys, Calif. In 1960, U.S. airlines were disposing of
their obsolete piston-engined Boeing 377 Stratocruisers in favor
of the newer jet-engined airliners. At the same time, NASA was
finding that barge transport of their increasingly large space program
components from manufacturers on the West Coast to test and launch
sites on the East Coast was slow and expensive. Aircraft broker Leo
Mansdorf was stockpiling surplus Stratocruisers at Van Nuys prior to Sept. 21, 1964: North American Rockwell’s XB-70 Valkyrie
resale, and ex-Air Force pilot John M. Conroy realized the potential experimental aircraft made its first flight from Air Force Plant
Sept. 18, 1948: Convair’s experimental XF-92A Dart of these aircraft to transport the large but relatively light rocket 42 in Palmdale, Calif., to Edwards Air Force Base. It was flown
made its first flight, lifting off from Muroc Dry Lake Bed, components. Conroy presented his plans for an extensively modified by North American test pilot Alvin S. White and Col. Joseph F.
in Southern California with Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft Stratocruiser to NASA, where an official commented that the bloated Cotton. Originally conceived as a strategic bomber with the ability
Corporation test pilot Ellis D. “Sam” Shannon at the aircraft resembled a pregnant guppy. Although NASA was lukewarm to cruise at Mach 3 speeds, the two XB-70s completed were
controls. The Dart was the first delta-winged aircraft. on the concept, Conroy mortgaged his house and founded Aero used as joint Air Force/NASA high-speed research vehicles only.
The XF-92A was a difficult airplane to fly. NACA test pilot Spacelines International to build and operate the concept aircraft. In
Scott Crossfield commented, “Nobody wanted to fly the this photograph, the Pregnant Guppy is shown on the flight line at
XF-92. There was no lineup of pilots for the airplane. It NASA’s Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center.
was a miserable flying beast.” Sept. 24, 1954: The Bell X-1B
Sept. 18, 2000: The made its first flight, flown by Lt.
X-32A, Boeing’s Joint Col. Jack Ridley. Like the X-1A, this
Strike Fighter concept second-generation aircraft was built
demonstrator, landed at for dynamic stability and air load
Edwards Air Force Base, investigations at higher altitudes
Calif., after making its and speeds than the three original
first flight. Boeing JSF X-1 aircraft. The X-1B was also to
chief test pilot Fred be used as a test bed for the X-15’s
Knox flew the aircraft reaction control system.
from Boeing’s facility at
Air Force Plant 42 in
Palmdale, Calif.

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