The X-3 is one of the odd ones. Wikipedia describes a 1950s US experimental jet with a slender fuselage and a long tapered nose, built by the Douglas Aircraft Company to investigate the design features of an aircraft suitable for sustained supersonic speeds. It looks fast standing still. It was not.

Two dates

Wikipedia's infobox gives 15 October 1952 as the first flight. The article text is more careful. It says the first X-3 "hop" was made on 15 October by Douglas test pilot Bill Bridgeman: during a high-speed taxi test he lifted the aircraft off the ground, flew about a mile and settled back onto the lakebed. The official first flight, the text says, was made by Bridgeman on 20 October and lasted about 20 minutes.

NASA's page on the X-3 says the same thing, almost word for word, and I would say two sources agreeing is enough to name the pilot. Flightgear's "on this day" calendar also lists 20 October as the X-3's "official" first flight, without a pilot.

Built for Mach 2

Wikipedia says the plan was to take off under its own power, climb, cruise at Mach 2 and land. The planned Westinghouse J46 engines turned out to be too large for the fuselage, so smaller Westinghouse J34 turbojets were fitted instead, giving 4,900 pounds-force with afterburner rather than the planned 7,000.

The result, Wikipedia says, is that the X-3 could not exceed Mach 1 in level flight. Its first supersonic flight needed a 15 degree dive to reach Mach 1.1. Its fastest, on 28 July 1953, reached Mach 1.208 in a 30 degree dive. NASA's page gives the same Mach 1.208 figure.

Titanium and a very fast takeoff

Wikipedia's lead says the aircraft included the first use of titanium for major airframe components. NASA's page is gentler and says one of the first aircraft to use it. Flightgear says first. I would go with "one of the first" and leave it there.

Takeoff speed is another split. Wikipedia says it was unusually high, 260 miles per hour, citing a book by Jim Winchester. NASA's page says 260 knots. I could not settle it.

Flights and pilots

Wikipedia says Bridgeman made 26 flights, counting the hop, by the end of the Douglas tests in December 1953. It also says the aircraft completed 51 test flights in all, though that sentence is tagged as needing a citation, so I treat it as unconfirmed. Air Force pilots Frank Everest and Chuck Yeager flew it later, and NACA pilot Joseph Walker flew the research programme.

Where it is now

Only one X-3 was built, Wikipedia says, of two ordered. It was transferred in 1956 to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, and as of 2008 Wikipedia places it in the museum's Research and Development Gallery. NASA says the aircraft was retired to the Air Force Museum. I have not been able to open the museum's own fact sheet, which returned an access error, so check its current gallery before you visit.

The photographs

The NASA photographs I use with this story are public domain on Wikimedia Commons: one in flight, one on the lakebed at Edwards and one being towed to the lakebed. None of them is dated to the first flight, so I treat them as period images only. The colour photograph of the surviving aircraft is by Clemens Vasters, licensed CC BY 2.0.

Hop or flight?

I am happy to call 20 October the official first flight, but I am less sure about the hop. It left the ground and travelled a mile. Would you count it as a first flight?

Sources

  • Wikipedia, "Douglas X-3 Stiletto": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_X-3_Stiletto
  • NASA, "X-3 Stiletto": https://www.nasa.gov/aeronautics/x-3-stiletto/
  • Flightgear "On this day", 20 October: https://www.sites.google.com/site/flightgearotdia/home/october/oct20
  • Photos via Wikimedia Commons: NACA/NASA (public domain), Clemens Vasters (CC BY 2.0)