Secret development of aircraft past

On the aircraft of this series there were a lot of rumors, and radio, television and the press only added fuel to the fire, so to see some of these devices in the air, ordinary people often mistook them for UFOs. In fact, it was so: for cars that were on the verge of conceptual ideas and modern technology thoroughly knew only a handful of initiates.

The first prototypes began constructing back in the mid-1940s and has since planes are indicated by "X" became the first part of the American aviation history, and then the world. From the first aircraft to break the sound barrier flying to the orbital station - X-planes for almost 70 years, captured the imagination of aviation enthusiasts.

X-1. 1946

Shortly after the end of World War II, Bell Aircraft in conjunction with the US Air Force and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (the predecessor of NASA) Dial determined to overcome the sound barrier. Bell X-1 was the plane, which is managed on the 50th departure October 14, 1947. X-1E - fourth modification - March 3, 1958 set the speed record for the year to develop it to 1643 km / h.

X-11 and X-12. In 1957 and 1958.

X-11 and X-12 were more first intercontinental ballistic missiles and not planes. They served as the basis for a family of space launch vehicles Atlas, who have an extensive history of starts, beginning with the first US orbital flight by John Glenn February 20, 1962.

X-15. 1958.

The first in the history of manned hypersonic aircraft, airplane, made a suborbital space flight. In 1961, test pilot Joe Walker reached an altitude of 108 kilometers - it was enough to be ranked as the astronauts. X-15 still holds the speed record: the 1967 pilot Pete Knight dispersed aircraft to 7 273 km / h, and no one has even failed to get close to this figure.

X-25. 1955

Single helicopter, also known as the Bence-8 was developed Russian immigrant Igor Bensenom. Initially, he created the gyro was not intended for military purposes, and has received wide popularity due to the fact that non-powered aircraft can be used without obtaining a pilot license. Besides, it was a simple and cheap way to learn self-piloting. US Air Force adapted the autogyro to fit your needs for rescue downed pilots. However, although the program on the use of X-25 was launched in 1955, it took only two test flights, and then closed down the project.

X-29. 1984

Look at the X-29, and you will notice immediately what is wrong with this plane: it swept wings deployed in the opposite direction. This design was to reduce drag, but an increase in static instability has meant that the aircraft could fly only under the control of computer flight control system "Fly-by-wire". X-29 was one of the last planes over which experimented with wings swept.

X-37. 2006

X-37 is very fond of conspiracy theorists who believe that this experimental unmanned orbital flight is a device to control everything and everyone, or weapons of mass destruction. In fact, the appointment of Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) or orbital flying station is unknown, but it is assumed that it is designed to test technologies for future space interceptor that will scan space objects and, if necessary, to eliminate them by kinetic effects. May 20, 2015 the machine X-37B (OTV-4) was launched by the carrier rocket "Atlas 5". US Air Force argued that conduct tests of a new ion engine, and NASA examines the impact of the environment on materials in space.

X-47. 2011

Since 2011, the drones are not only used for observation. X-47 Pegasus (English "Pegasus.") - combat drone (a bit like a UFO) taking off and landing on an aircraft carrier along with their big brothers and menacing. In fact the X-47 - a conceptual model, which aims to identify all the possible problems associated with the use of drones by the Navy.