D-558-2 being mounted to P2B-1S launch aircraft in hangar
Description (1954) This 1954 photograph shows a Douglas D-558-2 under the P2B-1S (Navy designation for a B-29) launch aircraft. The P2B-1S has been lifted on mechanical jacks in the hangar for a possible "fit check" or the attachment of the Skyrocket for a flight. (The Skyrocket made aviation history when it became the first airplane to fly twice the speed of sound.) The P2B-1S had the nickname "Fertile Myrtle." On the side of its fuselage is a series of images indicating 41 launches by the mothership of D-558-2 #2 (NACA 144) and 44 by D-558-2 #3 (NACA 145). The Douglas D-558-2 "Skyrockets" were among the early transonic research airplanes like the X-1, X-4, X-5, and XF-92A. Three of the single-seat, swept-wing aircraft flew from 1948 to 1956 in a joint program involving the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), with its flight research done at the NACA's Muroc Flight Test Unit in Calif., redesignated in 1949 the High-Speed Flight Research Station (HSFRS); the Navy-Marine Corps; and the Douglas Aircraft Co. The HSFRS became the High-Speed Flight Station in 1954 and is now known as the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: E-1526
Date: 1954
D-558-2 being mounted to P2B-1S launch aircraft in hangar
Description (1954) This 1954 photograph shows a Douglas D-558-2 under the P2B-1S (Navy designation for a B-29) launch aircraft. The P2B-1S has been lifted on mechanical jacks in the hangar for a possible "fit check" or the attachment of the Skyrocket for a flight. (The Skyrocket made aviation history when it became the first airplane to fly twice the speed of sound.) The P2B-1S had the nickname "Fertile Myrtle." On the side of its fuselage is a series of images indicating 41 launches by the mothership of D-558-2 #2 (NACA 144) and 44 by D-558-2 #3 (NACA 145). The Douglas D-558-2 "Skyrockets" were among the early transonic research airplanes like the X-1, X-4, X-5, and XF-92A. Three of the single-seat, swept-wing aircraft flew from 1948 to 1956 in a joint program involving the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), with its flight research done at the NACA's Muroc Flight Test Unit in Calif., redesignated in 1949 the High-Speed Flight Research Station (HSFRS); the Navy-Marine Corps; and the Douglas Aircraft Co. The HSFRS became the High-Speed Flight Station in 1954 and is now known as the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: E-1526
Date: 1954