Much of the energy and enthusiasm could be attributed to the youthfulness of the overall team. Paul Bikle was only 43 years of age when the X-15 began flying. Walker, the oldest pilot was 38, while Neil Armstrong, the youngest, was only 29. Ninety percent of the team members were under 45 years of age. The average age was less than 40, possibly as young as 35. I have not seen that level of effort or enthusiasm since the completion of the rocket aircraft program. It truly was an exciting time.
LIFE (AND DEATH) AFTER THE X-15
The number one X-15, serial number AF 5-6670, now hangs in the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian Institution. It is very appropriate that it was selected for this honor since it is the only X-15 that all twelve pilots flew. The number one aircraft also had the distinction of being the first and the last X-15 to fly. It made a total of eighty-one free flights and 142 takeoffs on the B-52. It retired in its original basic configuration.
The number two X-15, serial number AF 56-6671, is at Wright-Patterson AFB in the USAF Museum. It retired with the maximum speed record of 6.7 Mach number or 4,520 MPH. It is displayed in its modified X-15A-2 configuration. It was modified following a landing accident on its thirty-first flight. The airplane made a total of fifty-three flights—thirty-one as the original number two aircraft and twenty-two as the modified X-15A-2. It had made ninety-seven flights on the B-52. Six pilots flew the original aircraft and three flew the modified aircraft. A total of seven pilots flew it. This aircraft made the second flight of the program. Its last flight was the 188th flight.
The number three X-15, serial number AF 56-6672, was destroyed during its sixty-fifth flight. It had been carried aloft on the B-52 ninety-seven times. It had made the maximum altitude flight of 354,200 feet and had been flown by ten of the X-15 pilots. It was the only X-15 with the MH-96 adaptive flight control system. Its first flight was the forty-sixth flight of the program and its last flight was the 191st. Fittingly, some of the pieces of the aircraft still rest in the vast desert graveyard just south of Death Valley, over which it soared so many times during its active career.
Scott Crossfield was the first to leave the X-15 program concluding his demonstration flights in December 1960, a year and a half after his first flight. Scott stayed with North American Aviation for several years as the director of safety, reliability, and quality assurance. He moved on to become a vice president of Eastern Airlines and then became a consultant to Congress, where he is currently working.
Forrest Petersen was the next to leave the program, in January 1962. He assumed command of a fighter squadron at NAS Miramar after leaving the program. Then Admiral Rickover selected him to attend the Nuclear Propulsion School. Following that school, he assumed command of a navy oiler and then became executive officer of the nuclear aircraft carrier Enterprise. He later became captain of that ship before moving to the Pentagon as a rear admiral. He served his final tour as a vice admiral in the Pentagon as the commander of naval air systems command. After retiring from the navy he worked as a consultant and vice president of Kaman Aircraft. He died in November 1990.
Neil Armstrong was the third pilot to leave the program, in August 1962. He joined the NASA Astronaut Corps and then I lost track of him.
Bob White was the fourth pilot to leave the program, in December 1962. Bob also assumed command of a fighter squadron. He flew F-105s in Vietnam and gained a great deal of respect for his gung ho attitude. He also acquired a very distinguished combat record. Bob came back to Edwards as the commander of the flight test center in 1970 and ultimately retired as a major general. He is currently living in Germany.
Joe Walker was the next pilot to leave the program. Joe stepped aside to let some younger pilots have a crack at the X-15. Joe left the program in August 1963 and spent the next couple of years as the prime pilot on the lunar landing research vehicle helping to develop the lunar landing technique and the lunar lander control system. Joe’s final flight program was the XB-70, but he never got a chance to fly it. He was killed in a midair collision with the second B-70 while flying chase.
Joe Engle left the program a couple of months after I did. Joe had been selected as a NASA astronaut prior to leaving the X-15 program and moved on to Houston to participate in the Apollo and space shuttle programs. Joe was scheduled to fly on the last Apollo flight but was bumped at the last minute to allow an astronaut with a geology specialty to go instead. Joe finally made it into space in the space shuttle and is now retired from both the U.S. Air Force and NASA. He is currently a brigadier general in the air force reserve.
Bob Rush worth left the program in July 1966. Following graduation from the National War College, Bob went to Vietnam and flew 189 combat missions. After several other assignments, Bob also came back to Edwards in 1974 as a brigadier general to assume command of the flight test center. From Edwards, he moved on to become commander of AFOTEC in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and served his last tour as vice commander of the aeronautical systems division at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio. He retired as a major general and is currently living in California.
In September 1966, Jack McKay was the ninth pilot to leave the program. Jack was beginning to have severe neck and back problems at that time as a result of his Mud Lake accident in the number two X-15. After Walker’s death, he was moved to the chief pilot’s job with the understanding that he could move into less physically demanding research aircraft. Jack’s back continued to deteriorate and he finally retired on a medical disability. Jack died in 1972 as a result of complications of his accident injuries.
Mike Adams was killed in the number three X-15 on November 15, 1967. The road to the Edwards AFB Rod and Gun Club is designated Adams Way.
Bill Dana and Pete Knight were actively flying the X-15 when the program was cancelled in December 1968. Bill Dana continues to fly as a Dryden research pilot and is currently chief pilot. Bill has the longevity record at Dryden. As a research pilot, he has flown there for over 30 years. He has had an illustrious career as a research pilot and does not intend to quit flying in the near future. Pete Knight moved on to a number of special assignments in the Air Force Systems Command. He also served a tour in Vietnam. He returned to Edwards as vice commander of the flight test center and then retired as a full colonel. When last seen, Pete was vice president of Eidetics (an aerospace research firm), and mayor of Palmdale, California.
In the late summer of 1965,1 had to choose between the X-15 program and the heavyweight lifting body program. I was assigned to both programs at the time. Joe Walker wanted to give some of our newer pilots an opportunity to participate in one of the bigger programs, so he suggested that I choose one or the other. I decided to go with the lifting body program. I felt that I had played a major role in selling that program and I wanted to stay with it.
I made my last X-15 flight in August and then began concentrating on my role as chief lifting body pilot. There was plenty of work to do to support the development and construction of the M2-F2 and HL-10 vehicles and prepare them for flight. I spent most of my time working with Northrop, our construction contractor, to help define the various subsystems and the cockpit layout. I also spent hundreds of hours in the NASA simulator assisting in the definition of the flight control system. My flight time was devoted to the development of an unpowered landing technique for the lifting bodies and the definition of a first flight plan.
With all of this work to do, it was obvious that I could not have continued to participate in the X-15 program. I think Joe Walker was really making me face up to reality in choosing one program or the other. We spent almost a year preparing the lifting body vehicles for their first flight. I finally made the first M2-F2 flight on July 12, 1966. I flew the next four flights and then began checking out the other lifting body pilots.
Prior to flying the M2-F2, I had told Paul Bikle, our director, that I wanted to transfer back into the research engineering organization after I had flown the M2-F2. I felt that the exciting programs were winding down, and I could not see a
ny new challenging programs coming up in the near future. I really enjoyed the challenge of an X-15 flight or a lifting body flight, but I was getting bored with the routine proficiency flying that was required between research flights. When a pilot gets bored with flying, it is time to quit.
In January 1967, I moved into the research organization as chief of the research projects office. In this position I was responsible for all of the flight projects at Dryden, which included the X-15 and the lifting bodies as well as a number of other projects. I continued in this position until 1975, at which time I became chief engineer of the center. I have remained in that position up to the present time.
While serving as the director of research projects, I became involved with the space shuttle program. I was appointed a member of the space transportation system technology steering committee in 1970, and in this role I had the opportunity to relay our X-15 and lifting body experience to the shuttle program developers. Our flight experience was uniquely applicable to the atmospheric entry phase of their mission. I emphasized our energy management techniques and our unpowered landings. The shuttle initially was to have deployable engines for powered landings. We attempted to convince them that landing engines were an illusory benefit and instead advocated unpowered landings. We flew a number of NASA headquarters and program officials, including Bob Thompson, Roy Day, John Yardley, Mike Malkin, and George Low, in our F-104 aircraft to demonstrate the safety and simplicity of unpowered approaches. In response to a concern about whether a large aircraft like the proposed shuttle could accomplish an unpowered approach, we used our B-52 mothership to fly simulated shuttle approaches. We subsequently used the NASA Convair 990 aircraft to demonstrate shuttle approaches to other shuttle program officials and a number of astronauts. Deke Slayton was one of the astronauts who flew simulated shuttle approaches in the 990 aircraft.
We also advocated a mothership for the shuttle for ferrying it in lieu of the planned ferry engines. Our mothership proposals included twin 747 and twin C-5 configurations. Luckily, one of the JSC engineers, John Kiker, came up with the much simpler idea of using a single 747 aircraft as a mothership. We persevered in our crusade and finally convinced shuttle management to eliminate the air-breathing engines, make unpowered landings, and use a mothership for ferry. This decision reduced the weight of the orbiter by roughly 10,000 pounds. Thus, our X-15 and lifting body experience had a significant impact on the design and operation of the space shuttle.
Author’s Note
One might wonder why I have written this book. That role may seem more likely to some for Crossfield, who made the first flight, or one of the other pilots who participated in the early envelope expansion. It may be because none of the other pilots were involved from the beginning to end. They each participated and contributed and then moved on before the final curtain. Of the surviving pilots, Bob Rushworth was the most qualified to write the story because he was assigned to the program for almost 8 years and flew the most flights. But apparently Bob has no plans to write a book. Bill Dana joined the program late, but he was involved in a support role from the early phases of the program until he started flying as a project pilot. He could also write a book, and he may still write one someday.
For many years I assumed that someone would write a book about the X-15 flight program. It was such an exciting, challenging, and productive endeavor that someone should have been anxious to document it. As the years passed by and no book appeared, I began to worry. I was concerned that the story might not be told. I was particularly concerned that the story might not have a personal touch, that memories would fade, or that the participants would die off. The story required a participant’s perspective, in my opinion, to describe the excitement and vibrancy of the program.
Twenty-seven years after the first flight, a story still had not appeared. I decided then to try and tell the story. I was, however, not particularly qualified to write the story since I was neither a professional writer nor a historian. I knew I would have trouble describing all of the emotions and other human responses so evident in the actions of the participants. It is not easy to describe in words the tremendous camaraderie, fierce pride, strong commitment, absolute dedication, and total honesty and integrity exhibited by this diverse team. I hope, however, that I have reflected some of these traits in the story. The X-15 program was to me a powerful human endeavor. The opportunity to participate in such an endeavor is not available to everyone. I was honored to have had that opportunity.
This, then, is my story of the X-15 flight program. I have done a considerable amount of research to ensure that the story is reasonably accurate, but I also know that a professional historian would have done more. I assume that someday a professional historian will also document the program and thus, if the reader waits long enough, he can gain both perspectives. I, however, have one advantage—that of being privy to the many humorous personal stories that were never documented. I hope the reader enjoys those stories. In fact one of my greatest desires in writing this account is that the reader enjoy it. I hope I have succeeded.
I also hope I have reflected some of the realism. Winston Churchill once said, “I’m confident that history will treat me well because I will write the history.” I have tried to write some of the history of the X-15.
My one regret is that I could not convince the publishers to use my original title, “Don’t Fall Off the Bull.” To me that title reflects the pilot’s primary objective during any research flight: to hang in there and successfully complete the mission.
I am still working at Dryden as the chief engineer. I think Bill Dana summed up “life after the X-15” better than anyone. He said, “Crossfield went on to become an airline vice president and a consultant to Congress. Forrest Petersen went on to become a vice admiral. White and Rushworth moved up to be major generals. Neil became an astronaut and was the first man to step out on the moon. Joe Engle became an astronaut and flew the space shuttle. Pete Knight became mayor of Palmdale. That’s quite an illustrious bunch of pilots. And then,” Dana said, “there is you and me.”
Appendix 1
Flight Logs
KEY TO THE FLIGHT LOGS
Flight: Program flight number
Date: Date of this flight
Pilot: X-15 pilot who flew the flight
plan M: Planned Mach number
actual M: Mach number actually attained
plan h: Planned altitude in feet
actual h: Altitude actually attained
A/C Flight: Three-part designation: (Example: 2-43-75)
2 = Aircraft number (1, 2, or 3)
43 = Number of times this X-15 has flown
75 = Number of times this aircraft has been carried aloft by the B-52 (includes planned captives, aborted missions, and free flights)
Launch Lake: Dry lake, or general area, where flight was launched
Launch Time: Local California time of launch
plan Burn: Planned engine burn time in seconds
actual Burn: Actual engine burn time in seconds
Duration: Flight duration, or time, from launch to touch down (minutes and seconds)
Speed (MPH): Maximum speed attained, in miles per hour
B-52: Tail number of the B-52 used for launch (003 or 008)
B-52 Crew: Pilot and copilot of the B-52, in order
Chase: Chase pilots for the mission, in order from 1 to 3, 4, or 5
Purpose: The reasons (Studies, experiments, etc.) for the flight
Remarks: Interesting events of the flight, if any
Flight 1
Flight 2
Flight 3
Flight 4
Flight 5
Flight 6
Flight 7
Flight 8
Flight 9
Flight 10
Flight 11
Flight 12
Flight 13
Flight 14
Flight 15
Flight 16
Flight 17
Flight
18
Flight 19
Flight 20
Flight 21
Flight 22
Flight 23
Flight 24
Flight 25
Flight 26
Flight 27
Flight 28
Flight 29
Flight 30
Flight 31
Flight 32
Flight 33
Flight 34
Flight 35
Flight 36
Flight 37
Flight 38
Flight 39
Flight 40
Flight 41
Flight 42
Flight 43
Flight 44
Flight 45
Flight 46
Flight 47
Flight 48
Flight 49
At the Edge of Space Page 36
