The X-15’s first NASA flight….

[dhanners]

Still need to do some cleanup and weathering, but here’s one I’ve been wanting to add to my X-15 collection for some time. Joe Walker’s Flight 1-3-8 on 25 March 1960 was a typical early X-15 flight in X-15-1, 66670. He “only” hit Mach 2. What was significant about the flight — and this is what the model is a tribute to — is that it was the X-15’s first NASA flight, and the first time a research aircraft carried NASA markings.

After a series of test flights (all flown by North American Aviation test pilot Scott Crossfield) the X-15 was handed over to NASA, and NASA test pilot Joe Walker made the first flight for the relatively new agency. Previous research aircraft had carried the winged shield emblem of NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.

As a matter of pride, NASA wanted the new X-15 to carry its markings. The agency decided the nose would have the NASA “meatball” on a yellow dart (replacing the white “X-15” carried on the NAA flights) and the tail would sport a yellow band with “NASA” on it in black.

That’s what has made the model difficult to repaint. The “NASA” on the tail on the early flights isn’t a standard font. It was just something the crew servicing the aircraft painted on. (The later “NASA” lettering on the banner used an early form of a font now known as Serpentine Oblique.) For repainting a card model, there is no font that can be used to replicate the very early lettering, and nothing really comes close.

I’ve been at a loss for how to do it. Then I was thumbing through my copy of the Jenkins/Landis book “Hypersonic,” and the book includes a series of well-done color profiles of the X-15, including the first NASA flight. I pulled out my rule, pencil and calculator, did some measuring and calculating, and found that if the profile was enlarged 200%, the size of the yellow band would match what I needed for my 1/48th-scale model.

I took the book to my local print shop and had them enlarge the profile. Surprisingly, it looked pretty good. I took the model pieces for the dorsal rudder, cut away the yellow banner, and grafted the “old” banner on the kit pieces. It worked. That was for the left side only, though (since the profile was left side only) so I had to join two sections of a second and third banner to make one long enough to cut for the right side of the rudder.

I had to mix-and-match parts from a couple of other YukonJohn repaints because on the first NASA flights, 66670 carried the “U.S. AIR FORCE” and national insignia on the side tunnels only, not split on the tunnels and fuselage. The ventral also lacked any of the various vent warnings, so I scratchbuilt it from spare black cardstock.

Otherwise, it was a pretty standard build. I scratchbuilt a new, longer tailcone and the LR-11 motors.

[mbauer]

Once again you nailed it!

Colors look great, nice build.

Any plans for your collection?

Museum quality, best of all your models represent the many changes and tell a very important story of experimentation with man's desire to fly!

Re-drawing the one I did to be more scale like. Plan to fly it using my new air tank design. 4-ft long model will be R/C controlled glider. Thank you for the inspiration to get going on the redesign.

Mike

[Paper Kosmonaut]

Beautiful! As usual. I really enjoy the effort and research you put into it all.

By now I presume you can build them blindfolded. (-;


Still, Another 100 points!

[dhanners]

Thanks, Mike and PK! The R/C X-15 sounds exciting. Once you get it going, you’ll have to see if you can roll it, like Joe Engle did once. (It was unauthorized. Fortunately, there is video: NASA X-15 first flight with Joe Engle barrel roll - YouTube)

And yeah, PK, I could almost build them blindfolded, but it seems I learn some new shortcut each time I build one. There are only two more I might do in 1/48th — either the rollout or first-flight scheme of 66672, or I might re-do Forrest Petersen’s gray-and-green 66671 because there are a couple of issues with the one I built.

There don’t seem to be any photos of 66672’s rollout, and I’m not sure how it differed from its first flight because after rollout, it blew up in an engine test and was rebuilt. It had a nose boom when it was rolled out, but by the time it was rebuilt and returned to service, it had the Q-Ball nose. It would be nice to have the rollout and last flight of all three X-15s, and the 66672 rollout is the only one I lack.

Since I built Petersen’s gray-and-green 66671, I’ve gotten more photos from that flight that show some things not on the model. The left side of the ventral stub was apparently covered with the same gray test paint on the left wing and left tailplane. And the right tailplane had an odd patch of white or gray paint on part of it.

[umtutsut]

Another masterpiece from the master! Great work, David.

Les (The Voices of Authority-- coming soon)

[smithdr]

That's a real beauty. Sleek and neat. Excellent!

Dan

[mbauer]

Originally Posted by dhanners

There don’t seem to be any photos of 66672’s rollout, and I’m not sure how it differed from its first flight because after rollout, it blew up in an engine test and was rebuilt. It had a nose boom when it was rolled out, but by the time it was rebuilt and returned to service, it had the Q-Ball nose. It would be nice to have the rollout and last flight of all three X-15s, and the 66672 rollout is the only one I lack.

Have the video of it blowing up with Scott Crossfield in it. Time Life's "Test Pilots" VHS tape from the 90's. Bought the whole collection.

Also shows the F14 Tomcat doing a nosedive on short final. The pilot descending into the fireball with his chute. The flames super heated the air and he soon was above the fire and flames making a safe landing after all. The VHS tape has the pilots interview after it happened.

Mike

[Paper Kosmonaut]

Wow, that roll in an X-15 is something else! It must have been done with the RCS thrusters. So a genuine aileron roll (which I think it actually is) isn't true either. But wow! Never seen that footage before! Those are the most spectacular rolls I have seen. It puts my previous favourite roll manoeuver (Bill Ongena's Touch-Roll-Touch in an F-104) back to second place. Thanks for sharing!

[dhanners]

Originally Posted by Paper Kosmonaut

Wow, that roll in an X-15 is something else! It must have been done with the RCS thrusters. So a genuine aileron roll (which I think it actually is) isn't true either. But wow! Never seen that footage before! Those are the most spectacular rolls I have seen. It puts my previous favourite roll manoeuver (Bill Ongena's Touch-Roll-Touch in an F-104) back to second place. Thanks for sharing!

Engle actually got in a little trouble for doing the roll. He did it (he later said) to set up the energy for his approach and landing, and he thought nothing of it because Crossfield had done a barrel roll in the X-15, too.

Because of his altitude, nobody saw him do it. But a few days later, when technicians went through the recorded data from the flight (on rolls of paper. Remember those days?) they saw indications of a roll maneuver and at first thought it was an instrumentation problem. Engle acknowledged it was an actual roll.

He was told Crossfield’s roll happened while the contractor (North American Aviation) was responsible for the aircraft, but now that NASA called the shots, NASA wasn’t allowing any unplanned maneuvers like barrel rolls.

NASA got over any dismay it may have had at Engle. He is the only pilot to manually fly the entry, approach and landing of the Space Shuttle.

Here’s the X-15 collection so far: