Wingless Flight PDF Download

"Wingless flight" tells the dramatic story of the most unusual flying machines ever flown. Eight different lifting body configurations were flown at the NASA Flight Research Center (FRC) at Edwards, California over a 12 year period from 1963 to 1975. These wingless wonders were all considered flying prototypes or models of future spacecraft that could land like an airplane after the searing heat of reentry from space. Precursors of today's Shuttle, the X-33, and the X-38, the lifting bodies provided technical and operational engineering data that shaped all three space vehicles. The eight different configurations varied considerably from the bulbous, unpowered, lightweight plywood M2-F1 to the very sleek, rocket-powered, all-metal supersonic X-24B. Some of these configurations, such as the M2-F2, pushed the limits of both design engineers and test pilots capabilities and were dangerous to fly. Control of the M2-F2 was eventually lost by the test pilot. Movie footage of the resulting crash was later used for the lead-in to each episode of the popular TV series., "The six million dollar man". This book is written as a continuing story which puts the reader behind the eyes and ears of a young creative NASA engineer, R. Dale Reed, as he goes day to day working with technicians, engineers, pilots, managers, and politicians in an exciting environment of flight research at Edwards Air Force Base in California, where FRC is a tenant. This book is as much about the "Real Stuff" (people who create and service the flying machines) as it is about Tom Wolfe's "Right Stuff" (the pilots who fly the machines)