NOTE: RADIO CONTROL AIRPLANES ARE ON THE BOTTOM HALF OF THE PAGE.
North American X-15 aircraft were produced to explore the limits of sub-orbital supersonic flight. They flew a total of 199 times. Three were produced.
The aircraft first took to the sky on June 8, 1959. The last flight took place on Oct. 24, 1968. A 200th flight was never made, even after several attempts. They were all canceled due to either technical problems or the weather.
Of the 199 flights a total of thirteen exceeded an altitude of 50 miles. The
U.S. designates a pilot who has exceeded that altitude as an astronaut.
The North American X-15 was flown by Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon. He was among the twelve pilots who flew the aircraft.
The two surviving aircraft are on exhibit. One is at the National Air &Space Museum in Washington, DC and the other is at the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH.
The differences between aircraft models were a heat resistant treated
fuselage, two fuel tanks beneath the fuselage, and a lengthening of a little over two feet.
Mission preparation could take up to 200 hours. This
included a number of various simulations, ground checks and in flight
systems checks.
The aircraft were launched from under the wing of a B-52 mother ship. Pilots describe the launch as being "fired from a cannon."
After rocket ignition it took approximately a minute and a half for the X-15 to achieve
maximum altitude. All the time, the pilot, pressed back in his seat at
2 to 4 G's, concentrated on achieving the correct angle of ascent and
speed, monitoring climb rate and altitude.
Pilots were kept busy. Controls for on board experiments needed to be actuated while the pilot also worked on regulating engine
thrust and final shutdown of the rocket engine. During flight in the upper atmosphere, where the air is so thin that the
conventional flight controls do not work, the pilot guided the aircraft using attitude control rockets.
Upon reentry a pilot experienced forces of up to 5 G's. On final approach
the North American X-15 handled somewhat like a conventional airplane.
Pilots reported no difficulties in final approach or landing of the aircraft.
Pictured above is Doug Gard and his X-Projects rc North American X-15 radio control airplane. It is of all composite construction. Power is from an Aerotech 1200W-RMS motor.
The first picture below is of the North American X-15 rc sold by Nitro Planes. It has a wing span of 9" and a length of 29". Propelling it is a Pyrotechnic motor.
Estes has a 14 inch long free flight rocket of the North American X-15.
The final picture on this page is of the profile rc North American X-15 built by Frank Burke. Wing span is 19" and length is 27". Frank uses a Park 180 motor turning a 6 x 5.5 propeller to push it.
We received the following email from Frank: "Hi, I’ve built and flown a profile pusher electric
rc X-15, runs on a full flying tail only, very docile and good flight performance,
I just converted to take a rocket, motor so you can launch vertically under
rocket, or fly it on electric, this was featured in a recent issue of model
aviation, I’ve done several X planes, all profiles. The X-15 rc was one of my first and is very simple to build out of
depron, and flies very very well. In case you are interested, ran across your
web site today and saw the couple of other attempts. My RC X-15 belly lands no
problem and will fly in very small areas. I’ll attach a photo, and the thread with a couple of
links to videos is in the thread if interested. Plans are posted with a link
also in the thread, they are free for download:
RC North American X-15 by Frank Burke