The ‘golden age’ of the rocket plane, whether it is defined in terms of the number of aircraft, speed of progress or number of flights, kicked off with the He-176 in 1939, essentially at the same time as the jet age, and arguably ended with the final flight of the X -15 in 1968. Successful rocket aircraft projects of that period were based upon three vital ingredients: a good aircraft design, a good rocket engine, and a great pilot. If any part of this fundamental triangle was lacking, the outcome was often disaster: aircraft pitched over due to Mach tuck, engines blew up, and pilots overshot landing fields and crashed their expensive aircraft. The extreme speeds that rocket aircraft achieved and the new aerodynamic territories they ventured into meant things could go wrong very fast and very unexpectedly. Pilots who let their powerful, sleek planes get ahead of them often did not make it back. And extensive flight experience did not mean that pilots were safe from making mistakes. For each new, experimental rocket aircraft every pilot was essentially inexperienced. The same applied to the designers, but at least they rarely lost their lives due to a fault in their aircraft or engine.
Conclusions
Springer Praxis Books (formerly: Springer-Praxis Series)
2012-05-16
3 pages
Aufsatz/Kapitel (Buch)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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