D-558-1 on ramp with research pilots Eugene May and Howard Lilly
Description: In this photograph the Douglas D-558-1 #2 Skystreak is pictured with test pilot Eugene May (Douglas Aircraft Company) on the left and National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) research pilot Howard Lilly on the right. The number two Skystreak was the aircraft that crashed taking Howard Lilly's life. The Skystreak in this photograph was still painted bright red. The NACA later had the color of the Skystreaks changed to white to improve optical tracking and photography.
The crash that killed Howard Lilly occurred on May 3, 1948. Lilly had just taken off and retracted the landing gear when the engine compressor broke apart. The fragments severed the airplane's control lines. Lilly had no chance to escape before the D-558-1 hit the lakebed. One of the roads into what is now the Dryden Flight Research Center is named after Lilly, who was the first NACA research pilot killed in the line of duty.
Conceived in 1945, the D-558-1 Skystreak was designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company for the U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, in conjunction with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The Skystreaks were turojet powered aircraft that took off from the ground under their own power and had straight wings and tails. All three D-558-1 Skystreaks were powered by Allison J35-A-11 turbojet engines producing 5,000 pounds of thrust. All the Skystreaks were initially painted scarlet, which lead to the nickname "crimson test tube." NACA later had the color of the Skystreaks changed to white to improve optical tracking and photography. The Skystreaks carried 634 pounds of instrumentation and were ideal first-generation, simple, transonic research airplanes. Much of the research performed by the D-558-1 Skystreaks, was quickly overshadowed in the public mind by Chuck Yeager and the X-1 rocketplane. However, the Skystreak performed an important role in aeronautical research by flying for extended periods of time at transonic speeds, which freed the X-1 to fly for limited periods at supersonic speeds.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: E95-43116-8
Date: Circa 1946
D-558-1 on ramp with research pilots Eugene May and Howard Lilly
Description: In this photograph the Douglas D-558-1 #2 Skystreak is pictured with test pilot Eugene May (Douglas Aircraft Company) on the left and National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) research pilot Howard Lilly on the right. The number two Skystreak was the aircraft that crashed taking Howard Lilly's life. The Skystreak in this photograph was still painted bright red. The NACA later had the color of the Skystreaks changed to white to improve optical tracking and photography.
The crash that killed Howard Lilly occurred on May 3, 1948. Lilly had just taken off and retracted the landing gear when the engine compressor broke apart. The fragments severed the airplane's control lines. Lilly had no chance to escape before the D-558-1 hit the lakebed. One of the roads into what is now the Dryden Flight Research Center is named after Lilly, who was the first NACA research pilot killed in the line of duty.
Conceived in 1945, the D-558-1 Skystreak was designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company for the U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, in conjunction with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The Skystreaks were turojet powered aircraft that took off from the ground under their own power and had straight wings and tails. All three D-558-1 Skystreaks were powered by Allison J35-A-11 turbojet engines producing 5,000 pounds of thrust. All the Skystreaks were initially painted scarlet, which lead to the nickname "crimson test tube." NACA later had the color of the Skystreaks changed to white to improve optical tracking and photography. The Skystreaks carried 634 pounds of instrumentation and were ideal first-generation, simple, transonic research airplanes. Much of the research performed by the D-558-1 Skystreaks, was quickly overshadowed in the public mind by Chuck Yeager and the X-1 rocketplane. However, the Skystreak performed an important role in aeronautical research by flying for extended periods of time at transonic speeds, which freed the X-1 to fly for limited periods at supersonic speeds.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: E95-43116-8
Date: Circa 1946