X-15

[mbauer]

Hi Cardmodeler,

Just wanted to say Thank You for the book recomendation!

Just read the one I bought after you started this thread!

Covers the Rocketship very well, nice photos too.

The Lonely Sky is about another book about a rocket ship by the pilot who flew it before turning it over to the NAVY and NACA. Book is from the Pilot's 1st person experience and it is really, really good. By William Bridgeman.

This X15 book goes in to great detail about the airplane and not so much from a pilots view though. Although I keep thinking about one particular page.

When one of the test pilots was bored and wanted to do some flying, he casually mentioned it to his boss. Sure go fly the F104 for a little practice... No mission planning, no weeks in advance, just sure, nobody's using it so have fun basically....It ain't fair! He did practice some chase plane manevuers though!

I used to live in Northern Utah, on a remote cattle ranch, about where it was launched from, which kind of surprised me. Used to see quite a few jets from Hill and Mt. Home doing low level stuff thru the area.

Thank you for the recomendation! Great book!

Here is a photo of my Stomp Rocket design.

Best regards,
Mike Bauer

[cardmodeler]

Mike,

I enjoy reading books about the dawn of the space age, so to speak. Another good one is We Seven by the Mercury astronauts.

I have the paperback version of Rocket Fighter. No pix.:( Those Germans certainly had some imaginative designs for aircraft back then. I seem to recall seeing a plastic model of a rocket plane/bomb that was launched vertically from a rail. Very interesting stuff.

Your X-15 stomp rocket looks like lots o'fun. How many stomps is the soda bottle good for? How high do they fly? Are they pretty durable? Why is the sky blue? Oh, sorry, I got carried away...

Seriously, I need to build one of those, as I have a little grandson who I believe would get a charge out of it, as well.

[mbauer]

Hi Cardmodeler,

For kids it is best to use a marker and do a "bullseye" in the center of the bottle. If they stomp on the end, it breaks.

I have a 7-up bottle that has done over 50+ launches.

Height? Depends on weight of cardstock used to build. Using Index 100 makes a model (F104) of 29gms, same model made using Index 110 weighs in at 42gms. Big difference in height and distance.

The lightweight ones glide much better, the heavier ones sometimes dive into the ground...

X-15 flies the best out of the following:
F106
F104

Strong and if built using lighter card (Index 90, 100# or Vellum Bristol 67#) will go to about 100ft AGL and 150 ft distance!

Up, up and away first photo. Landed about 20feet behind the shed (in other photos) on this flight!

rest of photos have been named...Second photo shows how I bend the trailing edge wingtips to form a slight washout twist (helps to bring models back to wing-level. Also left wing damage from hitting house, also notice how trailing edge of left wing is bent down to stop it from turning to the left, rudder has light correction bent into it as well. Nosecone has been shoved onto fuselage several times giving the crease past the sidechines...

I have the book We Seven. Also Moon Shot, Man into Space, and a very special expensive one called "The greatest Adventure" a book of personal photos taken by any and all Astronauts. Moon photos, Space Station photos, shuttle photos etc... Highly recomended. Don't forget Lost Moon, by Jim Lovel...I've read several about Apollo 13, but this one is the best! (First person account of what it felt like!) Men From Earth, by Buzz Aldrin on Apollo 11, another about the same Spacetrip called Carrying the Fire by Michael Collins-still looking for one by Neil though.

BTW-fourth photo you can see a shovel stuck in the tree-at 20ft level lower right...You don't want to know! It was measured before recovery process.

Mike Bauer

[2Kamser]

can recommend Andy Chaikin's "a man on the moon" about the Apollo astronauts
Neil armstrong's book is called "first man"
"failure is not an option" by Gene Kranz is a good one
have books by/of Gus Grissom, Alan Shepard, Wally Shirra, Deke Slayton, Tom Stafford, Gene Cernan, Chris Craft, Pete Conrad, the list goes on and on
intend to get as many of the early astros as possible as that's where it all started to happen

[richkat]

The A&E tv station, a few years ago ran a show called "The Rocket Pilots" that was about the whole X plane program, but focused on the X-15. It was a very good look at the X's. It showed some great footage of all the X planes,early F-100,F-86, and a bunch more,even airshow footage (amazing what they used to do at airshows!!) I have tryed to find it on DVD but so far have no luck. The X-15 footage alone is worth finding it for!!......Rich

[billy.leliveld]

I have build it, it's great;
Ecardmodel X15 printed version

[mbauer]

Originally Posted by 2Kamser

can recommend Andy Chaikin's "a man on the moon" about the Apollo astronauts
Neil armstrong's book is called "first man"
"failure is not an option" by Gene Kranz is a good one
have books by/of Gus Grissom, Alan Shepard, Wally Shirra, Deke Slayton, Tom Stafford, Gene Cernan, Chris Craft, Pete Conrad, the list goes on and on
intend to get as many of the early astros as possible as that's where it all started to happen

Thank you for the Name of Neil's book. The list of books you have is very impressive, will look into the other ones I'm missing!

Thank you for listing them!!!!

Mike

[spaceagent-9]

dosent paragon models have one?

[southwestforests]

This one is worth having
At the Edge of Space: The X-15 Flight Program by Milton O. Thompson

ISBN 1-58834-078-3

Thompson. The first full length account of the X-15 test program to which the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs owe so much. This adrenaline-fueled account of the X-15 program has the ultimate insider's view - the author was one of the test pilots. Book includes all of the uncertainties, technical challenges and more; and profiles all twelve of the test pilots and their achievements. Program tested survivability of rocket powered aircraft at hypersonic speeds and at the outermost limits of earth's atmosphere. 375 pgs., 70 B&W photos, 6"x 9", sfbd.
Price: $24.95

So is this one
Hypersonic: The Story of the North American X-15 (Specialty Press) by Tony R. Landis , Dennis R. Jenkins

ISBN 1-58007-068-X (mine is hardcover)

The Story of the North American X-15
Jenkins & Landis. The X-15 proved it was possible to fly to space and back. In this history, you'll meet the pilots and program principals, see the B-52 carrier planes, examine the first pressure suits, explore mission simulators, and learn about the test locations. Includes full flight logs from original sources, system test programs, scientific experiments performed and more. 276 pages, 500 B&W and 50 color photographs, 100 drawings, 9"x 9",

softcover.

Price: $28.95

[southwestforests]

Originally Posted by cardmodeler

I enjoy reading books about the dawn of the space age, so to speak.

How about these 2
Flying Without Wings by Milton Thompson

Book Description

Publication Date: April 26, 1999
Written by a pilot/engineer who participated in every phase of NASA's lifting body program, Flying Without Wings documents the adventure, triumphs, setbacks, and fun of pioneering a technology that allowed astronauts to accomplish lifting reentries and precise runway landings. He tells how, after the cancellation of the Air Force's Dyna-Soar program, the first lifting body projects such as the Parasev paraglider and the M2-F1 were built on shoestring budgets at Edwards Air Force Base, California, often without the knowledge of officials at the NASA headquarters.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

And
U.S. Space Gear : Outfitting The American Astronautby Lillian D. Kozloski

Lillian D. Kozloski was formerly a museum specialist in the department of space history at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum

Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press; 1 edition (April 15, 2000)Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2000 | ISBN-10: 1560983825 | ISBN-13: 978-1560983828 | Edition: 1
From the earliest days of flight, design of comfortable yet protective flying clothing has proved almost as great a challenge as the creation of airplanes and spacecraft. With more than 150 illustrations, this volume shows how researchers and designers culled life-saving ideas from sources both expected and obscure: deep-sea divers' equipment, pressurized inner tubes, tomato worms, and medieval armor.