X-15's B-52

[Bullethead]

You all have probably seen this before, but I didn't find it in the SEARCH so I'm posting it up.

This is the B-52 "The High and Mighty One" used to carry the X-15 up for all its flights. Looking at the scoreboard, I had no idea they flew so many times. You can also judge whether or not the flight was successful .

Also in the pic, you can see the X-15's cradle and a fairing for a camera to record the launch.

This B-52 is currently in the outside display area at the Pima Air & Space Museum near Tuscon, Arizona. I believe it was just stuck in the nearby boneyard at first, but was dragged out and patched up for the museum. The X-15 enjoys airconditioning at the Smithsonian. Where's the justice in that?

 

[GregBurch]

Next time you're flying the X-15 addon, pan your view to the left from the cockpit of the X-15 before you drop. In the scenarios for the later missions, you'll see the "scoreboard" is pretty full.

The X-15 flew 199 times. The fact that they didn't get to make it an even 200 (they tried, but the mission was scrubbed), is an ironic note at the end of the program that serves to highlight the lost promise of the X-15 program. We tried to show what that promise would have looked like with the X-15 Delta addon ...

 

[Bullethead]

Next time you're flying the X-15 addon

I'm ashamed to admit I don't have any X-15 add-ons :sorry:. I'll have to remedy that.

The X-15 flew 199 times

Geez, that's impressive. I had no idea it was more than few times until I happened to stumble onto this B-52 at Pima and saw the scoreboard. I didn't even know it still existed and didn't recognize it for what it was at first. I was in a hurry (I only had about 1.5 hours to do the museum) and thought at first it was just an anomymous B-52. If there hadn't been something else that caught my eye near it, I'd have never walked all the way over there.

What caught my eye was a C-141 that I'd worked on at a previous job. It had gotten a big hole burned in its belly and I'd helped patch that up. It was a total pain of a job, but we were proud of the work, and then the USAF apparently junked the plane shortly thereafter. Not only that, but now there's something I touched in everday life sitting in a museum. I'm officially old now

 

[flying coffin]

Pima Museaum is definitely a must for any Aviation geek/pilot/flight enthusiast. One thing that amazed me was that the rocket engine nozzles
on the Titan II were so small, and how those 2 little things got 2 men into orbit!