Topic: Flying-Machines » Aircraft » Experimental Aircraft

Experimental Aircraft

The X-plane series and aircraft that have not been fully tested in flight
Results 21 - 40 of 49
  • Explore more »
The X-15: A different kind of high.

Who holds the altitude record for an airplane?

Depends on the category—and on who was watching.
May 29, 2009 | By Rebecca Maksel

The X-7 mounted on its B-29 carrier.

Moments & Milestones: Hits and Missiles

Produced in cooperation with the National Aeronautic Association
September 2008 | By George C. Larson

Bell XS-1

The Need for Speed

How six X-planes took aviation to 7,000 mph.
November 2007 | By Patricia Trenner

The three X-15s shared a hangar with lifting bodies (first three on left) at Edwards Air Force Base during the golden age of flight research.

The Real X-Men

Life came at you fast when you flew the X-15.
November 2007 | By Peter Garrison

Make Your Own X-15

Download and build your own paper model.
November 01, 2007 | By airspacemag.com

The X-15 that hangs in the Smithsonian Institution

X-15 Walkaround

A short guide to the fastest airplane ever.
November 2007 | By Linda Shiner

Inconel X, a ferociously strong nickel alloy, gives the X-15 its gun-metal black color. Inconel was chosen for the airplane

Why We Miss the X-15

Not only was it the fastest. It may have been the best flight research program ever.
November 01, 2007 | By Linda Shiner

Anousheh Ansari before her launch to the International Space Station in September 2006.

A & S Interview: Anousheh Ansari

The X-Prize sponsor and space tourist talks about trips to orbit, past and future.
September 01, 2007 | By Bettina H. Chavanne

X-15: The Hollywood Version

Charles Bronson starred. The Pentagon had a few minor corrections.
August 2007 | By airspacemag.com

In the 1930s, a group of air-minded Oregonians started one of the first homebuilding clubs. Here, the pilots and builders banded together against a new threat: federal regulation.

The Resistance

A hub of creativity for early airplane builders: North Carolina? Ohio? Nope—Oregon. And these Oregonians had an independent streak.
May 2007 | By Ken Scott

X-35B short-takeoff and vertical-landing (STOVL) aircraft displayed at the National Air and Space Museum

The X-35 on Display

The fighter of the future comes to the Hazy Center.
November 2006 | By airspacemag.com

Voyager ends its round-the-world trip in December 1986.

Why was the Voyager aircraft not symmetrical?

A 20-year mystery solved.
November 01, 2006 | By Joe Pappalardo

Swing Wings

It's all done with computers (and good old-fashioned hydraulics).
September 2006 | By Joe Pappalardo

Flying doorstop: The wedge shape of the X-43 compresses air entering the engine. This computational fluid dynamics image shows the vehicle

Debrief: Hyper-X

Scramjet power? Simple: Keep a match lit in a 7,000-mph wind.
July 2005 | By Michael Milstein

Prop, swept wings, a huge T-tail—the XF-84H was one of a kind.

ZWRRWWWBRZR

That's the sound of the prop-driven XF-84H, and it brought grown men to their knees. It didn't fly all that great either.
July 2003 | By Stephan Wilkinson

Tests at a NASA wind tunnel showed that the Avrocar would not be stable at high speeds.

The Pentagon's Flying Saucer Problem

The weapon system that could have made the enemy die laughing
May 2003 | By Graham Chandler

NASA once considered using the space shuttle to carry the X-37 to orbit, but those plans changed. When the craft does go into space, it will most likely ride atop an expendable launcher.

Will the Air Force Finally Get a Spaceplane?

If Boeing's X-37 can maneuver politically as well as in space.
January 2003 | By Ben Iannotta

The X-35B lifts off the hover pit with its nozzle vectored for short-takeoffvertical-landing. To convert the engine’s operation from conventional takeoff to STOVL, the pilot moves a lever back about an inch. This opens four sets of doors behind the cockpit, allowing air to flow through the lift fan and starting the nozzle moving through its full range of travel. Simultaneously a clutch engages, transferring power from the engine to the lift fan.

Winner Take All

All the nail biting, second guessing, and sheer engineering brilliance in the battle to build the better Joint Strike Fighter.
January 2003 | By Evan Hadingham

Arthur Tomassetti is go for Mission X in the X-35B.

Above & Beyond: Mission X

May 2002 | By Major Arthur Tomassetti

Ready, Set, Flap!

Birds do it, bees do it. Can two weird aircraft make aviation history doing it?
January 2002 | By Graham Chandler


« Previous 1 2 3 Next »

Advertisement


Advertisement