Page 8 - Aerotech News and Review, November 20, 2020

High Desert Hangar Stories
The Convair XF-92 – a Delta Wing Movie Star

by Bob Alvis frustrated the Air Force, which was eager to get
special to Aerotech News it into the research mode. On March 26, 1948, it
was loaded aboard a Navy LST and taken to the
When the United States was looking to develop Port of Los Angeles. From there it was trucked to
a point-defense interceptor in the 1940s, the delta Muroc Army Air Field, where it would live out
wing design was getting a lot of attention. Test its life in flight test.
bed aircraft were being developed by various While I was researching the jet, it was obvious
contractors to fill that requirement. that it was a great test bed and provided much
Convair, which would later go on to become useful data that would find its way into future del-
a successful creator of several delta wing de- ta-wing aircraft. One aspect of that old airframe
signs, built a mock-up that was identified as the caught my attention, when a couple of odd photos
Model 7002 in official documentation. It would showed it in a strange paint scheme. I started to
not be long before it became the XF-92, a one- snoop around for a story and it wasn’t long be-
off research project that was never intended to fore I discovered it was tied to a “casting call”
be a production aircraft. As such, the craft was from Hollywood, that had come in search of an
assembled from many different aircraft parts to American Jet to play the part of a Russian MiG!
keep costs down — similar to what is happening In the big production of the 1957 movie Jet
today with the X-59 QueSST. You had compo- Pilot, starring John Wayne and Janet Leigh, it
nents like the main landing gear that was from the was decided that an unused airframe in flying
North American FJ-1; the nose wheel from a Bell condition would be a great stand in as a MiG-23.
P-63; the J-33 engine, brakes and hydraulics from The XF-92 was dolled up for the role in a strange
a Lockheed P-80; the ejection seat from a XP-81, paint job and it took to our High Desert skies,
and the rudder pedals from a BT-13 trainer. Built with some of our test pilots from Edwards doing
at the old Vultee Field in Downey and finished the flying for the movie.
up in San Diego at the Consolidated plant, the As is typical of Hollywood, and given the fact
project took over a year to complete — which that it was a Howard Hughes project, the film ran Air Force photograph
From left: Capt. Joseph E. Wolfe, Maj. Jackie L. Ridley and Maj. Charles E. Yeager, on the flight
line at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The three piloted the XF-92 for aerial scenes in the movie
Jet Pilot. For the movie, the XF-92 was painted to resemble a MiG-23. As it is, the footage of the
XF-92 ended up on the cutting room floor.

over time and over budget. Bringing out the plot So did the XF-92 ever get a chance for sil-
line, which was not so much about the “jet pilot” ver screen redemption? Well, Hollywood would
of the title, but more about showcasing a very come calling again up at Edwards and it would
provocative Janet Leigh, who played the part of get a small cameo in the epic movie Toward the
a Russian pilot and John Wayne’s love interest, Unknown in a static scene where it “played the
required some trimming of the film. part” of a crashed Convair F-102, as the pilot
So where does this leave our XF-92/struggling was rescued from the craft that had supposedly
movie star and its sex appeal? Why, on the cut- crash landed.
ting room floor, of course! The XF-92 found out Today the XF-92 is on display at the Air Force
how fickle Hollywood can be — its role as that Museum in Ohio, after touring the country until
Russian MiG never hit the big screen and Lock- 1962 as an exhibit of experimental aircraft. One
heed P-80s took over the role instead. Jet Pilot is year it even ended up at the front entrance to the
a great old movie for the fans of the early Jet Antelope Valley Fair, as well as being on a float
Age and the exploits of those marquee actors of in a parade in Detroit, Mich! Now this is one
Courtesy photograph Holywood’s Golden Age, but it’s really a shame jet that sure knows how to get the most out of
The XF-92 made a cameo appearance in the 1956 film Towards the Unknown. we lost the chance to see that XF-92 on the big a hodgepodge of components and turn its 118
screen in a flying role. (Even if it is worth see- flights and 62 hours of air time into a lifetime
ing Janet Leigh steal the spotlight as the alluring role! Well done, comrade!
Russian agent/pilot!) Until next time, Bob out …

Courtesy photograph Courtesy photograph
The XF-92 in its MiG-23 paint job for the movie Jet Pilot. The footage of the XF-92 ended up on John Wayne and Janet Leigh in a scene from the movie
the cutting room floor. Jet Pilot, filmed at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

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