Wingless Flight
The wingless vehicle known as the X-24B, and affectionately called the "flying flatiron," was the last the lifting bodies tested by NASA and the U.S. Air Force. The first test flight was an unpowered glide on August 1, 1973 at Edwards, CA.
The lifting body program started as an idea proposed by Dr. Alfred Eggers of the Ames Research Center in 1957. Creating a flyable vehicle that could obtain aerodynamic lift from its shape, rather than its wings became a reality in 1962 when the Director of NASA's Flight Research Center, Paul Bikle, approved the M2-F1 project. A number of different variations were created over the next decade.
Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Michael V. Love flew it to a speed of Mach 1.76 on October 25, 1974, a record for the X-24B.
The X-24B's flat-bottomed design differed from many of its lifting body predecessors and rather resembled the Space Shuttle, which launched for the first time in 1981.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: 343837main_EC75-4643_full
Date: Circa 1975
Wingless Flight
The wingless vehicle known as the X-24B, and affectionately called the "flying flatiron," was the last the lifting bodies tested by NASA and the U.S. Air Force. The first test flight was an unpowered glide on August 1, 1973 at Edwards, CA.
The lifting body program started as an idea proposed by Dr. Alfred Eggers of the Ames Research Center in 1957. Creating a flyable vehicle that could obtain aerodynamic lift from its shape, rather than its wings became a reality in 1962 when the Director of NASA's Flight Research Center, Paul Bikle, approved the M2-F1 project. A number of different variations were created over the next decade.
Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Michael V. Love flew it to a speed of Mach 1.76 on October 25, 1974, a record for the X-24B.
The X-24B's flat-bottomed design differed from many of its lifting body predecessors and rather resembled the Space Shuttle, which launched for the first time in 1981.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: 343837main_EC75-4643_full
Date: Circa 1975