X-3 Stiletto on Ramp - View from Side
This National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) High-Speed Flight Station (now known as the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center) photograph shows a side-view of the X-3 Stiletto research aircraft on the ramp at Edwards Air Force Base in 1954. The X-3 had, perhaps, the most highly refined supersonic airframe of its day as well as other important advances including one of the first machined structures. It included the first use of titanium in major airframe components. Its long fuselage gave the Stiletto a high-fineness ratio and a low-aspect ratio (the ratio of the wing's span to its chord; in other words, the wings were short and stubby). Despite this refined configuration, the maximum speed it attained was Mach 1.21, during a dive.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: E54-1228
Date: April 1, 1954
X-3 Stiletto on Ramp - View from Side
This National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) High-Speed Flight Station (now known as the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center) photograph shows a side-view of the X-3 Stiletto research aircraft on the ramp at Edwards Air Force Base in 1954. The X-3 had, perhaps, the most highly refined supersonic airframe of its day as well as other important advances including one of the first machined structures. It included the first use of titanium in major airframe components. Its long fuselage gave the Stiletto a high-fineness ratio and a low-aspect ratio (the ratio of the wing's span to its chord; in other words, the wings were short and stubby). Despite this refined configuration, the maximum speed it attained was Mach 1.21, during a dive.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: E54-1228
Date: April 1, 1954