Douglas Skyrocket D-558-II

The Douglas Skyrocket (the D-558-2) was a rocket-powered research aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company for the U.S. Navy. With Scott Crossfield at the controls, the D-558-2 became the first airplane to fly twice the speed of sound. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1148x898, 71 KB) NASA picture D-558-2 Source: NASA File links The following pages link to this file: Douglas Skyrocket ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1148x898, 71 KB) NASA picture D-558-2 Source: NASA File links The following pages link to this file: Douglas Skyrocket ... The Douglas Aircraft Company was founded by Donald Wills Douglas, Sr. ... The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ... Scott Crossfield Albert Scott Crossfield (October 2, 1921—), normally referred to as Scott Crossfield, grew up in California and Washington. ...

Development

The Douglas D-558-2 "Skyrockets" were among the early transonic research airplanes like the X-1, X-4, X-5, and XF-92. Three of the single-seat, swept-wing aircraft flew from 1948 to 1956 in a joint program involving the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), with its flight research done at the NACA's Muroc Flight Test Unit in California, redesignated in 1949 the High-Speed Flight Research Station (HSFRS); the Navy-Marine Corps; and the Douglas Aircraft Co. X1 may refer to: the Bell X-1, the first aircraft to exceed the speed of sound the X-1 Submarine, the United States Navys only midget submarine the X1 spaceflight, the second Ansari X Prize flight, also known as SpaceShipOne flight 16P This is a disambiguation page — a... The Northrop X-4 Bantam was a small twin-jet airplane that had no horizontal tail surfaces, depending instead on combined elevator and aileron control surfaces (called elevons) for control in pitch and roll attitudes. ... The Bell X-5 was the first aircraft capable of changing the sweep of its wings in flight. ... The Convair XF-92 was the first American delta-wing aircraft. ... 1948 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1956 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... NACA official seal The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a U.S. federal agency founded on March 3, 1915 to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. ... State nickname: The Golden State Other U.S. States Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) Official languages English Area 410,000 km² (3rd)  - Land 404,298 km²  - Water 20,047 km² (4. ... 1949 is a common year starting on Saturday. ... United States Marine Corps Emblem The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is the second smallest of the five branches of the United States armed forces, with 170,000 active and 40,000 reserve Marines as of 2002. ...

The HSFRS became the High-Speed Flight Station in 1954 and is now known as the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. The Skyrocket made aviation history when it became the first airplane to fly twice the speed of sound. 1954 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which was established in 1958, is the agency responsible for the public space program of the United States of America. ... Dryden Flight Research Centers fleet of aircraft in 1993. ...

On November 20, 1953, shortly before the 50th anniversary of powered flight, Scott Crossfield piloted the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket research aircraft to Mach 2 - twice the speed of sound, or more than 1,290 mph (2076 km/h). November 20 is the 324th day of the year (325th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1953 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Scott Crossfield Albert Scott Crossfield (October 2, 1921—), normally referred to as Scott Crossfield, grew up in California and Washington. ...

The '2' in the aircraft's designation referred to the fact that the Skyrocket was the phase-two version of what had originally been conceived as a three-phase program, with the phase-one aircraft having straight wings. The third phase, which never came to fruition, would have involved constructing a mock-up of a combat-type aircraft embodying the results from the testing of the phase one and two aircraft.

Operational history

Douglas pilot John F. Martin made the first flight at Muroc Army Airfield (later renamed Edwards Air Force Base) in California on February 4, 1948. The goals of the program were to investigate the characteristics of swept-wing aircraft at transonic and supersonic speeds with particular attention to pitch-up (uncommanded rotation of the nose of the airplane upwards)--a problem prevalent in high-speed service aircraft of that era, particularly at low speeds during take-off and landing and in tight turns. Edwards Air Force Base is a USAF airbase located on the border of Kern County and Los Angeles County, California in the Antelope Valley, 7 miles (11 km) due East of Rosamond, USA at 34°57′ N 117°52′ W. An airbase since 1933, Edwards has long been a home... Edwards Air Force Base is an airbase located on the border of Kern County and Los Angeles County, California in the Antelope Valley, 7 miles (11 km) due East of Rosamond, USA at 34°57′ N 117°52′ W. An airbase since 1933, Edwards has long been a home for... February 4 is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1948 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The three aircraft gathered a great deal of data about pitch-up and the coupling of lateral (yaw) and longitudinal (pitch) motions; wing and tail loads, lift, drag, and buffeting characteristics of swept-wing aircraft at transonic and supersonic speeds; and the effects of the rocket exhaust plume on lateral dynamic stability throughout the speed range. (Plume effects were a new experience for aircraft.) The number three aircraft also gathered information about the effects of external stores (bomb shapes, drop tanks) upon the aircraft's behavior in the transonic region (roughly 0.7 to 1.3 times the speed of sound). In correlation with data from other early transonic research aircraft such as the XF-92A, this information contributed to solutions to the pitch-up problem in swept-wing aircraft.

The Douglas Skyrocket was dropped from a Navy B-29

The three airplanes flew a total of 313 times--123 by the number one aircraft (Bureau No. 37973--NACA 143), 103 by the second Skyrocket (Bureau No. 37974--NACA 144), and 87 by airplane number three (Bureau No. 37975--NACA 145). Skyrocket 143 flew all but one of its missions as part of the Douglas contractor program to test the airplane's performance. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1148x894, 84 KB) NASA picture D-558-2 Source: NASA File links The following pages link to this file: Douglas Skyrocket ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1148x894, 84 KB) NASA picture D-558-2 Source: NASA File links The following pages link to this file: Douglas Skyrocket ...

NACA aircraft 143 was initially powered by a Westinghouse J-34-40 turbojet engine configured only for ground take-offs, but in 1954-55 the contractor modified it to an all-rocket air-launch capability featuring an LR8-RM-6, 4-chamber Reaction Motors engine rated at 6,000 pounds force (27 kN) thrust at sea level (the Navy designation for the Air Force's LR-11 used in the X-1). In this configuration, NACA research pilot John McKay flew the airplane only once for familiarization on September 17, 1956. The 123 flights of NACA 143 served to validate wind-tunnel predictions of the airplane's performance, except for the fact that the airplane experienced less drag above Mach 0.85 than the wind tunnels had indicated. Westinghouse logo (designed by Paul Rand) The Westinghouse Electric Company, headquartered in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, is an organization founded by George Westinghouse in 1886. ... A Trident C-4 FBM launches and fires its Thiokol solid rocket first stage Thiokol (variously Thiokol Chemical Company, Morton-Thiokol Inc. ... John B. McKay was one of the first pilots assigned to the X-15 flight research program at NASAs Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. ... September 17 is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years). ... 1956 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

NACA 144 also began its flight program with a turbojet powerplant. NACA pilots Robert A. Champine and John H. Griffith flew 21 times in this configuration to test airspeed calibrations and to research longitudinal and lateral stability and control. In the process, during August of 1949 they encountered pitch-up problems, which NACA engineers recognized as serious because they could produce a limiting and dangerous restriction on flight performance. Hence, they determined to make a complete investigation of the problem. Note: as an adjective (stressed on the second syllable instead of the first), august means honorable. ... 1949 is a common year starting on Saturday. ...

In 1950, Douglas replaced the turbojet with an LR-8 rocket engine, and its pilot, William B. Bridgeman, flew the aircraft seven times up to a speed of Mach 1.88 (1.88 times the speed of sound) and an altitude of 79,494 feet (24,230 m), the latter an unofficial world's altitude record at the time, achieved on August 15, 1951. In the rocket configuration, a Navy P2B (Navy version of the B-29) launched the airplane at approximately 30,000 feet after taking off from the ground with the Skyrocket attached beneath its bomb bay. During Bridgeman's supersonic flights, he encountered a violent rolling motion known as lateral instability that was less pronounced on the Mach 1.88 flight on August 7, 1951, than on a Mach 1.85 flight in June when he pushed over to a low angle of attack (angle of the fuselage or wing to the prevailing wind direction). 1950 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... August 15 is the 227th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (228th in leap years), with 138 days remaining. ... 1951 was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... The Boeing B-29 Superfortress (Boeing Model 341/345) was a four-engine heavy bomber flown by the United States Army Air Force. ... August 7 is the 219th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (220th in leap years), with 146 days remaining. ... 1951 was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ...

The NACA engineers studied the behavior of the aircraft before beginning their own flight research in the airplane in September 1951. Over the next couple of years, NACA pilot A. Scott Crossfield flew the airplane 20 times to gather data on longitudinal and lateral stability and control, wing and tail loads, and lift, drag, and buffeting characteristics at speeds up to Mach 1.878. Scott Crossfield Albert Scott Crossfield (October 2, 1921—), normally referred to as Scott Crossfield, grew up in California and Washington. ...

At that point, Marine Lt. Col. Marion Carl flew the airplane to a new (unofficial) altitude record of 83,235 feet (25,370 m) on August 21, 1953, and to a maximum speed of Mach 1.728. August 21 is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1953 is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

Following Carl's completion of these flights for the Navy, NACA technicians at the High-Speed Flight Research Station (HSFRS) near Mojave, California, outfitted the LR-8 engine's cylinders with nozzle extensions to prevent the exhaust gas from affecting the rudders at supersonic speeds. This addition also increased the engine's thrust by 6.5 percent at Mach 1.7 and 70,000 feet (21,300 m). Mojave is a town located in Kern County, California. ...

Even before Marion Carl had flown the Skyrocket, HSFRS Chief Walter C. Williams had petitioned NACA headquarters unsuccessfully to fly the aircraft to Mach 2 to garner the research data at that speed. Finally, after Crossfield had secured the agreement of the Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics, NACA director Hugh L. Dryden relaxed the organization's usual practice of leaving record setting to others and consented to attempting a flight to Mach 2.

In addition to adding the nozzle extensions, the NACA flight team at the HSFRS chilled the fuel (alcohol) so more could be poured into the tank and waxed the fuselage to reduce drag. With these preparations and employing a flight plan devised by project engineer Herman O. Ankenbruck to fly to approximately 72,000 feet (21,900 m) and push over into a slight dive, Crossfield made aviation history on November 20, 1953, when he flew to Mach 2.005, 1,291 miles per hour (2,078 km/h). He became the first pilot to reach Mach 2 in this, the only flight in which the Skyrocket flew that fast. November 20 is the 324th day of the year (325th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1953 is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

Following this flight, Crossfield and NACA pilots Joseph A. Walker and John B. McKay flew the airplane for such purposes as to gather data on pressure distribution, structural loads, and structural heating, with the last flight in the program occurring on December 20, 1956, when McKay obtained dynamic stability data and sound-pressure levels at transonic speeds and above. Joseph A. Walker - X-15 astronaut (NASA) Joseph Albert Walker (20 February 1921 - 8 June 1966) was an American military test pilot; in 1963, he made two X-15 flights past the 100 kilometer edge of space, the only spaceplane flights past that threshold made until SpaceShipOne in 2004. ... John B. McKay was one of the first pilots assigned to the X-15 flight research program at NASAs Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. ... December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1956 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Meanwhile, NACA 145 had completed 21 contractor flights by Douglas pilots Eugene F. May and Bill Bridgeman in November 1950. In this jet-and-rocket-propelled craft, Scott Crossfield and Walter Jones began the NACA's investigation of pitch-up lasting from September 1951 well into the summer of 1953. They flew the Skyrocket with a variety of wing-fence, wing-slat, and leading-edge chord extension configurations, performing various maneuvers as well as straight-and-level flying at transonic speeds. While fences significantly aided recovery from pitch-up conditions, leading edge chord extensions did not, disproving wind-tunnel tests to the contrary. Slats (long, narrow auxiliary airfoils) in the fully open position eliminated pitch-up except in the speed range around Mach 0.8 to 0.85. For other uses, see November (disambiguation). ... 1950 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... September is the ninth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four Gregorian months with the length of 30 days. ... 1951 was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... 1953 is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

In June 1954, Crossfield began an investigation of the effects of external stores (bomb shapes and fuel tanks) upon the aircraft's transonic behavior. McKay and Stanley Butchart completed the NACA's investigation of this issue, with McKay flying the final mission on August 28, 1956. June is the sixth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four with the length of 30 days. ... 1954 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... August 28 is the 240th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (241st in leap years), with 125 days remaining. ... 1956 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Besides setting several records, the Skyrocket pilots had gathered important data and understanding about what would and would not work to provide stable, controlled flight of a swept-wing aircraft in the transonic and supersonic flight regimes. The data they gathered also helped to enable a better correlation of wind-tunnel test results with actual flight values, enhancing the abilities of designers to produce more capable aircraft for the armed services, especially those with swept wings. Moreover, data on such matters as stability and control from this and other early research airplanes aided in the design of the century series of fighter airplanes, all of which featured the movable horizontal stabilizers first employed on the X-1 and D-558 series.

D-558-2 #1 Skyrocket is on display at the Planes of Fame Museum, Chino, California. The number two Skyrocket, the first aircraft to fly Mach two, is on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. The number three is displayed on a pedestal at Antelope Valley College, Lancaster, California. Chino is a city located in San Bernardino County, California. ... Interior of museum, with Gemini capsule, Soviet rockets, and Wright Flyer visible The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the United States Smithsonian Institution maintains the largest collection of aircraft and spacecraft in the world. ... Aerial photo (looking NW) of the Washington Monument and the White House in Washington, DC. Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia (also known as D.C.; Washington; the Nations Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital city and administrative district of the United... Antelope Valley College is a community (junior) college located in Lancaster, California, USA. It is also a satellite branch of California State University, Bakersfield. ... City nickname:The Heart of the Antelope Valley County Los Angeles County, California Area  - Total  - Water 243. ...

The Aircraft

All three of the Skyrockets had 35-degree swept wings.

Until configured for air launch, NACA 143 featured a Westinghouse J-34-40 turbojet engine rated at 3,000 pounds force (13 kN) static thrust. It carried 260 US gallons (980 L) of aviation gasoline and weighed 10,572 pounds (4,795 kg) at take-off.

NACA 144 (and NACA 143 after modification in 1955) was powered by an LR-8-RM-6 rocket engine rated at 6,000 pounds force (27 kN) static thrust. Its propellants were 345 US gallons (1,306 L) of liquid oxygen and 378 US gallons (1,431 L) of diluted ethyl alcohol. In its launch configuration, it weighed 15,787 pounds (7,161 kg).

NACA 145 had both an LR-8-RM-5 rocket engine rated at 6,000 pounds force (27 kN) static thrust and featured a Westinghouse J-34-40 turbojet engine rated at 3,000 pounds force (13 kN) static thrust. It carried 170 US gallons (644 L) of liquid oxygen, 192 US gallons (727 L) of diluted ethyl alcohol, and 260 US gallons (984 L) of aviation gasoline for a launch weight of 15,266 pounds (6,925 kg).

• Most of the above text taken from NASA Dryden webpage.

Aircraft serial numbers

• D-558-2 Skyrocket
  • D-558-2 #1 - #37973 NACA-143, 123 flights
  • D-558-2 #2 - #37974 NACA-144, 103 flights
  • D-558-2 #3 - #37975 NACA-145, 87 flights

Specifications (D-558-2 Skyrocket)

Three-view diagram of the D-558-II Skyrocket

Image File history File links US Navy picture picture D-558-2 Source: US Navy File links The following pages link to this file: Douglas Skyrocket ... Image File history File links US Navy picture picture D-558-2 Source: US Navy File links The following pages link to this file: Douglas Skyrocket ...

General characteristics

• Crew: one pilot
• Length: 42 ft 0 in (12.8 m)
• Wingspan: 25 ft 0 in (7.6 m)
• Height: 12 ft 8 in (3.8 m)
• Wing area: 175 ft² (16.2 m²)
• Empty: 9,421 lb (4,273 kg)
• Loaded: 15,266 lb (6,923 kg)
• Maximum takeoff: 15,787 lb (7,161 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 x Westinghouse J34-WE-40 3,000 lbf (13 kN); 1 x Reaction Motors XLR-8-RM-5 6,000 lbf (27 kN) rocket engine

Performance

• Maximum speed: 1,291 mph (2,078 km/h)
• Range: miles ( km)
• Service ceiling: 83,235 ft (25,370 m)
• Rate of climb: ft/min ( m/min)
• Wing loading: 90.2 lb/ft² (442 kg/m²)
• Thrust/weight: 0.39 lbf/lb (3.8 N/kg)

Related content

Related development:

Comparable aircraft: Douglas D-558-I Skystreak The Douglas Skystreak (the D-558-1) was designed in 1945 by the Douglas Aircraft Company for the U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, in conjunction with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). ...

Designation sequence:

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Douglas Skyrocket

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• List of experimental aircraft
• List of rocket planes

This is a list of experimental aircraft. ... Rocket planes or rocket aircraft can be subdivided by the few rocket powered aircraft to have existed. ...

External links

• Towards Mach 2: The Douglas D-558 Program. NASA History Series 1999. PDF