The Northrop M2-F3--an airplane without wings

There is a similarly wingless lifting body (X-24) on display at the Air Force Academy.

1764093898918.jpeg
 
I was ogling that in the hangar at Udvar-Hazy recently. They also have some interesting related articles at the Intrepid. I still need to make it to Wright-Patterson...
 
There was a whole series of lifting body airplanes tested back in the 60's and 70's as part of low L/D gliding reentry research for spaceflight recovery.
www.nasa.gov

Lifting Bodies - NASA

A fleet of lifting bodies flown at NASA’s Flight Research Center (now Armstrong Flight Research Center) in Edwards, California, from 1963 to l975 demonstrated
www.nasa.gov www.nasa.gov

I was fortunate to meet several of the pilots, including Bruce Peterson (pilot of the crash at the beginning of the Six Million Dollar Man show), and work with at least one.

Nauga,
dropping it like it's hot
 
On the uncrewed side, Lightning Bolts is a good book, but it can be challenging to find.
 
Holy smokes, what is the landing speed of that thing? Looks very high.
 
Bill said:
Holy smokes, what is the landing speed of that thing? Looks very high.
Click to expand...
Probably frightening. But I bet it can generate a fair amount of lift at a high AOA if you’re willing to accept the drag penalty. Which means you’d better get the flare right the first time.
 
I seem to remember that some of them had thrusters to help with pitching up in the flare, but I have been known to make mistakes from time to time.

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19710000627/downloads/19710000627.pdf

"After reaching the low key [20,000'] position, the pilot devotes his attention primarily to making the landing approach (fig. 4). A final approach indicated airspeed of 270 knots to 300 knots is acquired and maintained until the flare altitude of 1000 feet above ground level is reached. At this altitude, approximately a 1.5 g flareout is initiated to bring the lifting body to level flight at 100 feet. At this altitude, at an indicated airspeed of about 220 knots to 240 knots, the landing gear are extended and a gradual descent to touchdown is made. Indicated touchdown velocities have varied from 155 to 223 knots."

I'm mainly amused to read the opinions on landing patterns :cool:
 
It's why Newton has LAWs and Bernoulli only has a theory (or principal).
 
nauga said:
There was a whole series of lifting body airplanes tested back in the 60's and 70's as part of low L/D gliding reentry research for spaceflight recovery.
www.nasa.gov

Lifting Bodies - NASA

A fleet of lifting bodies flown at NASA’s Flight Research Center (now Armstrong Flight Research Center) in Edwards, California, from 1963 to l975 demonstrated
www.nasa.gov www.nasa.gov

I was fortunate to meet several of the pilots, including Bruce Peterson (pilot of the crash at the beginning of the Six Million Dollar Man show), and work with at least one.

Nauga,
dropping it like it's hot
Click to expand...
Yes… Bruce was an interesting guy. I had the chance to work with him on the B2 program when he was Director of Safety for Northrop.
 
Mentioned earlier but now I just can't get it out of my mind. The mishap pictured story.

 
Bill said:
Holy smokes, what is the landing speed of that thing? Looks very high.
Click to expand...
It's one of the reasons they were called "bathtub killers".
pfarber said:
It's why Newton has LAWs and Bernoulli only has a theory (or principal).
Click to expand...
It's Bernoulli's theorem, not theory. Two very different things. Also known as Bernoulli's principle, not principal, also two very different things. But the term "principle" is often used in science to mean the same thing as "law".
 
GeorgeC said:
I seem to remember that some of them had thrusters to help with pitching up in the flare, but I have been known to make mistakes from time to time.

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19710000627/downloads/19710000627.pdf

"After reaching the low key [20,000'] position, the pilot devotes his attention primarily to making the landing approach (fig. 4). A final approach indicated airspeed of 270 knots to 300 knots is acquired and maintained until the flare altitude of 1000 feet above ground level is reached. At this altitude, approximately a 1.5 g flareout is initiated to bring the lifting body to level flight at 100 feet. At this altitude, at an indicated airspeed of about 220 knots to 240 knots, the landing gear are extended and a gradual descent to touchdown is made. Indicated touchdown velocities have varied from 155 to 223 knots."

I'm mainly amused to read the opinions on landing patterns :cool:
Click to expand...
So, basically the same as a Cirrus pattern?
 
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