In this section you will find six research aircraft beginning with the X-1 and concluding with the X-31. With the advent of research aircraft during the era following the Second World War, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) researchers were applying the new science of flight theories and using wind tunnels to conduct research. As the demand for increased aircraft speed evolved, the need for a laboratory in the sky became evident. NACA built custom designed research airplanes that conquered so-called sound barrier and went on to the edge of the atmosphere to give birth to the Space Age. NACA became the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958. Following this date, NASA used large commercial airplanes as a research platform for developing atmospheric weather sensors and advanced crew and cockpit technologies.

The Bell Aircraft Company, funded by the United States Army Air Force, built the rocket powered X-1. This plane was air-launched from a B-29 Superfortress at 9,144 m (30,000 feet). It became the first aircraft to break the sound barrier on October 14, 1947, and was piloted by a United States Air Force (USAF) test pilot, Major Charles "Chuck" Yeager. Subsequent flights attained speeds up to 1,434 knots (1,650 mph). The X-1A pioneered the way for the development of supersonic aircraft worldwide for flight testing and NACA researchers were responsible for the design of special instrumentation that allowed the flight data to be recorded and analyzed.

The North American X-15 was operated jointly by NASA and the USAF to conduct research on high altitude supersonic flight. NASA was responsible for its design and development, as well as the flight testing. Test pilots from North America, NASA, and the USAF flew the X-15. Launched from under the wing of a B-52 bomber, the X-15A2 reached a top speed of 3940 knots (4,534 mph) and a maximum altitude of 107,960 m (354,200 feet) during testing from 1963-1967. The research data generated was valuable for the emerging manned space program. The data were also transferred to the aeronautical industry, the USAF, and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for the design of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird airplane.

The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird has the capability of cruising at over three times the speed of sound at 24,384 m (80,000 feet) and above. In September 1974, a SR-71 flew from New York to London in less than two hours, and then flew from London to Los Angeles in less than four hours. The airplane was designed and built by Lockheed Aircraft Company with USAF and CIA funding. As a reconnaissance plane for the USAF, the Blackbird's cameras, radars and infrared sensors could map 155,399 square km (60,000 square miles) in an hour and keep an eye on trouble spots in the world. NASA currently has three Blackbirds on loan from the USAF and is conducting high-speed, high-altitude tests which will lead to design changes in future civilian and military aircraft.

The Boeing 757 is one of the newest additions to the research and development program at NASA. The 757 will be used by NASA to provide a larger platform for continuing and conducting research on navigation systems and new cockpit technology. The Boeing 757 will replace NASA's aging 737. The first flight of the Boeing 757 was in 1982 and it is presently being prepared for fly-by-light and power-by-wire systems trials by NASA in 1998-1999.

NASA is directing research to develop technology for a High-Speed Civil Transport (HSCT). Similarities between the wing aerodynamic characteristic of the NASA F-16XL and the HSCT make the F-16XL the ideal aircraft for developing technology pertinent to the HSCT program. NASA has used the prototype F-16XL aircraft to research supersonic laminar flow control. Smooth airflow over the wings in supersonic flight will reduce drag and turbulence, save fuel, and help make the HSCT an economically viable aircraft design. The first NASA flight for the F-16XL was in May 1990.

The X-31 is a single seat combat maneuverability research aircraft built by the Rockwell International Company. In association with Germany's Deutsche Aerospace Military Aircraft Division, two X-31 aircraft have undergone flight testing at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA; Patuxent River, Maryland; and in Germany. The X-31 has no horizontal tail surfaces. Instead, pitch and yaw are controlled by three thrust vectoring paddles attached to the rear of the engine exhaust section. This new design is expected to expand the maneuvering flight envelope of future military aircraft in future low-speed, transonic and supersonic flight. The X-31 was first flown in October 1990. NASA acquired the aircraft in April 1992.

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