(Douglas) D-558 @·AIRCRAFTUBE

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Douglas D-558 Skystreak & Skyrocket

Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak

The Skystreak was a single-engine jet research aircraft of the 1940s. It 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). The Skystreaks were turbojet powered aircraft that took off from the ground under their own power and had unswept flying surfaces.

Development

The D-558 program was conceived as a joint NACA/U.S. Navy research program for transonic and supersonic flight. As originally envisioned, there would be three phases to the D-558 program: a jet powered airplane, a mixed rocket/jet powered configuration, and a design and mockup of a combat aircraft. A contract for design and construction of six D-558-1 aircraft for the first phase was issued on June 22, 1945. The original plan had been for six aircraft with a mixture of nose and side inlets and varying wing airfoil sections. That plan was quickly reduced to three aircraft of a single configuration with a nose inlet. Plans for the second phase with mixed rocket/jet propulsion were also dropped. Instead, a new aircraft, the D-558-2, was designed with mixed rocket and jet propulsion for supersonic flight.

Construction of the first 558-1 began in 1946 and was completed in January 1947. The fuselage used magnesium alloys extensively, while the wings were fabricated from more conventional aluminum alloys. The airframe was designed to withstand unusually high loads of up to 18 times gravity due to the uncertainties of transonic flight. The forward fuselage was designed so that it, including the cockpit, could be jettisoned from the aircraft in an emergency. The aircraft was configured to carry more than 500 lb of test equipment, including sensors (primarily strain gauges and accelerometers) in 400 locations throughout the aircraft. One wing was pierced by 400 small holes to enable aerodynamic pressure data to be collected.

The Skystreaks were powered by one Allison J-35-A-11 engine, developed by General Electric as the TG-180, and carried 230 US gallons (or 871 litres) of kerosene.

Operational history

All the Skystreaks were initially painted scarlet, which led to the nickname "Crimson Test Tube." NACA later had the color of the Skystreaks changed to white to improve optical tracking and photography. The first of three D-558-1 Skystreaks, BuNo 37970, made its maiden flight on April 14, 1947, at Muroc Army Air Field (later named Edwards AFB). Less than 4 months later, on August 20, this aircraft with Commander Turner Caldwell, USN, set a new world speed record of 641 miles per hour (1,032 km/h) flying D-558-1 #1, the very first air speed record that exceeded the unofficial mark of 1004 km/h (623.8 mph) set by an example of the World War II-era German Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet rocket fighter prototype, itself set in very early October of 1941. The D-558-1 #1 Skystreak's record lasted 5 days, and was broken by Marine pilot Marion Carl going 10 miles per hour (16 km/h) faster in D-558-1 #2, BuNo 37971. This aircraft was delivered to the NACA Muroc Flight Test Unit in April 1949 after 101 flights had been completed by the Navy, Air Force, and Douglas. This aircraft was never flown by the NACA. The D-558-1 #1 is located at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida.

Following 27 flights by the Navy and Douglas the second D-558-1 aircraft was delivered to the NACA in November 1947. The D-558-1 #2 underwent extensive instrumentation by the NACA Muroc instrumentation section. The number 2 Skystreak made a total of 19 flights with the NACA before it crashed on takeoff due to compressor disintegration on May 3, 1948, killing NACA pilot Howard C. Lilly. The third D-558-I, BuNo 37972, aircraft was delivered to the NACA Muroc Flight Test Unit in 1949 after three Douglas test pilots and Howard Lilly had flown it. The number three aircraft took over the planned flight program of the D-558-1 #2. From the first flight in 1949 through 1953 the third Skystreak was flown in an intensive flight-research program by seven NACA test pilots, with a great deal of useful data collected on high-subsonic handling. The D-558-1 #3 made a total of 78 research flights with the NACA before being retired on June 10, 1953. The third Skystreak is on display at Carolinas Aviation Museum located at the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport(CLT) in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The Skystreak reached Mach 0.99 in level flight, but only flew supersonic in a dive. In the public mind, much of the research performed by the D-558-1 Skystreaks was quickly overshadowed by Chuck Yeager and the supersonic X-1 rocket plane. However, the Skystreak performed an important role in aeronautical research by flying for extended periods of time at transonic speeds, which freed the X-1 to fly for limited periods at supersonic speeds.

Aircraft serial numbers

  • D-558-1 #1 - BuNo 37970 NACA-140, 101 flights.
  • D-558-1 #2 - BuNo 37971 NACA-141, 46 flights.
  • D-558-1 #3 - BuNo 37972 NACA-142, 81 flights.
  • D-558-1 #4, #5, #6 Additional aircraft originally ordered but later cancelled.

Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket

The Skyrocket was a rocket and jet-powered supersonic research aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company for the United States Navy. On November 20, 1953, shortly before the 50th anniversary of powered flight, Scott Crossfield piloted the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket to Mach 2, or more than 1,290 mph (or 2076 km/h), the first time an aircraft had exceeded twice the speed of sound.

Design and development

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. The phase-one aircraft, the D-558-1, was jet powered and had 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. The eventual D-558-3 design, which was never built, was for a hypersonic aircraft similar to the North American X-15.

When it became obvious that the D-558-1 fuselage could not be modified to accommodate both rocket and jet power, the D-558-2 was conceived as an entirely different aircraft. A contract change order was issued on 27 January 1947 to formally drop the final three D-558-1 aircraft and substitute three new D-558-2 aircraft instead.

The Skyrocket featured wings with a 35-degree sweep and horizontal stabilizers with 40-degree sweep. The wings and empennage were fabricated from aluminum and the large fuselage was of primarily magnesium construction. The Skyrocket was powered by a Westinghouse J34-40 turbojet engine fed through side intakes in the forward fuselage. This engine was intended for takeoff, climb and landing. For high speed flight, a four-chamber Reaction Motors LR8-RM-6 engine (the Navy designation for the Air Force's XLR-11 used in the Bell X-1), was fitted. This engine was rated at 6,000 lbf (or 27 kN) static thrust at sea level. A total of 250 gallons (or 946 liters) of aviation fuel, 195 gallons of alcohol, and 180 gallons of liquid oxygen were carried in fuselage tanks.

The Skyrocket was configured with a flush cockpit canopy, but visibility from the cockpit was poor, so it was re-configured with a raised cockpit with conventional angled windows. This resulted in a greater profile area at the front of the aircraft, which was balanced by an additional 14 inches (36 cm) of height added to the vertical stabilizer. Like its predecessor, the D-558-1, the D-558-2 was designed so that the forward fuselage, including cockpit, could be separated from the rest of the aircraft in an emergency. Once the forward fuselage had decelerated sufficiently, the pilot would then be able to escape from the cockpit by parachute.

Operational history

Douglas pilot John F. Martin made the first flight at Muroc Army Airfield (later renamed Edwards Air Force Base) in California on 4 February 1948 in an aircraft equipped only with the jet engine. 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 (un-commanded rotation of the nose of the aircraft upwards), a problem prevalent in high-speed service aircraft of that era, particularly at low speeds during takeoff and landing, and in tight turns.

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.

Its flight research was done at the NACA's Muroc Flight Test Unit in California, redesignated in 1949 the High-Speed Flight Research Station (HSFRS). The HSFRS became the High-Speed Flight Station in 1954 and is now known as the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.

The three aircraft flew a total of 313 times - 23 by the number one aircraft (Bureau No. 37973--NACA 143), 103 by the second Skyrocket (Bureau No. 37974 - NACA 144), and 87 by aircraft 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 aircraft's performance.

NACA aircraft 143 was initially powered by the jet engine only, but was later fitted with the rocket engine. In this configuration, it was tested by Douglas from 1949 to 1951. After Douglas' test program, it was delivered to NACA, who stored it until 1954. In 1954-55 the contractor modified it to an all-rocket air-launch capability with the jet engine removed. In this configuration, NACA research pilot John McKay flew the aircraft only once for familiarization on 17 September 1956. The 123 flights of NACA 143 served to validate wind-tunnel predictions of the aircraft's performance, except for the fact that the aircraft experienced less drag above Mach 0.85 than the wind tunnels had indicated.

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 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.

In 1950, Douglas replaced the turbojet with an LR-8 rocket engine, and its pilot, Bill Bridgeman, flew the aircraft seven times up to a speed of Mach 1.88 (or 1.88 times the speed of sound) and an altitude of 79,500 ft (or 24,200 m), the latter an unofficial world's altitude record at the time, achieved on 15 August 1951. In the rocket configuration, a Navy P2B (Navy version of the B-29) launched the aircraft at approximately 30,000 feet (or 9,000 m) 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 7 August 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).

The NACA engineers studied the behavior of the aircraft before beginning their own flight research in the aircraft in September 1951. Over the next couple of years, NACA pilot Scott Crossfield flew the aircraft 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.

At that point, Marine Lt. Col. Marion Carl flew the aircraft to a new (unofficial) altitude record of 83,235 feet (or 25,370 m) on 21 August 1953, and to a maximum speed of Mach 1.728.

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 (or 21,300 m).

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 (or 21,900 m) and push over into a slight dive, Crossfield made aviation history on 20 November 1953, when he flew to Mach 2.005, 1,291 miles per hour (or 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.

Following this flight, Crossfield and NACA pilots Joseph A. Walker and John B. McKay flew the aircraft for such purposes as to gather data on pressure distribution, structural loads, and structural heating, with the last flight in the program occurring on 20 December 1956, when McKay obtained dynamic stability data and sound-pressure levels at transonic speeds and above.

Meanwhile, NACA 145 had completed 21 contractor flights by Douglas pilots Eugene F. May and William 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 summer 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.

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 28 August 1956.

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 aircraft aided in the design of the Century Series of fighter aircraft, all of which featured the movable horizontal stabilizers first employed on the X-1 and D-558 series.

Variants

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

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 (or 27 kN) static thrust. Its propellants were 345 U.S. gallons (or 1,306 litres) of liquid oxygen and 378 US gallons (1,431 litres) of diluted ethyl alcohol. In its launch configuration, it weighed 15,787 lb (or 7,161 kg).

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

Aircraft serial numbers

  • 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.

Locations today

The 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 2, 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.

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This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article Douglas Skyrocket of Wikipedia ( authors )

Specifications (D-558-1 Skystreak)

  • Crew : one pilot.
  • Payload : 500 lb of instruments (or 227 kg).
  • Length : 35 ft 8 in (or 10.87 m).
  • Height : 12 ft 1 in (or 3.68 m).
  • Wingspan : 25 ft (or 7.62 m).
  • Wing area : 150.7 ft² (or 14 m²).
  • Wing loading : 67 lb/ft² (or 330 kg/m²).
  • Loaded weight : 9,750 lb (or 4,423 kg).
  • Max takeoff weight : 10,105 lb (or 4,583 kg).
  • Maximum speed : 650 mph at sea level (or 1,050 km/h).
  • Stall speed : 137 mph (or 221 km/h).
  • Service ceiling : 45,700 ft (or 13,900 m).
  • Rate of climb : 9,220 ft/min (or 2,810 m/min).
  • Powerplant : One Allison J35-A-11 turbojet.
  • Thrust : 5,000 lbf (or 22 kN).
  • Thrust/weight : 0.51.

Specifications (D-558-2 Skyrocket)

  • Crew : one pilot.
  • Length : 42 ft (or 12.8 m).
  • Height : 22 ft 8 in (or 3.8 m).
  • Wingspan : 25 ft (or 7.6 m).
  • Wing area : 175 ft² (or 16.2 m²).
  • Wing loading : 87.2 lb/ft² (or 426 kg/m²).
  • Empty weight : 9,421 lb (or 4,273 kg).
  • Max takeoff weight : 15,266 lb (or 6,923 kg).
  • Maximum speed : 720 mph, 1,250 mph when air-launched (or 1,160 km/h, or 2,010 km/h when air-launched).
  • Stall speed : 160 mph (or 258 km/h).
  • Service ceiling : 16,500 ft (or 5,000 m).
  • Rate of climb : 22,400 ft/min, 11,100 ft/min under rocket power only (or 6,830 m/min., 3,380 m/min under rocket power only).
  • Powerplant : One Westinghouse J34-WE-40 turbojet delivering 3,000 lbf (or 13 kN) of thrust or one Reaction Motors XLR-8-RM-5 rocket engine, delivering 6,000 lbf (or 27 kN) of thrust.
  • Thrust/weight (jet) : 0.39.

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This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article Douglas Skyrocket of Wikipedia ( authors )
Douglas D-558 Skystreak & Skyrocket : Your comments on this subject
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    Under the photos section comes the comments tabs window :

    You can enter general comments in your own language via one of the two buttons on the left (BLOG EN and BLOG FR). Note that these buttons are accessible regardless of the language to allow some participation in the other language.

    All comments are subject to moderation and will be published only if they comply with the basic rules of decorum, while remaining relevant to the purpose of this site.

    The third tab allows you to enter comments on the shown topic and is bilingual. Personal anecdotes, supplements and other information questions will take place here.

    The "Story" tab shows the explanatory texts. They are most often taken from Wikipedia, a site where we participate regularly.

    The "Data" tab is reserved for list of features and specifications.

    Right menus

    On a smartphone, the lack of space is growing and this menu is moved to the bottom of the page to give priority to videos and pictures.

    The top right icons are links to videos posted by third parties (on their own responsabilities) or by ourselves. The link below these icons will take you to the channel of the one who posted the video. Feel free to suggest other videos if you think they are of some interest (Use the BLOG button or the "Contact" link).