X-2: The testing machine project was jointly developed by Bell Aircraft Company, US Army Air Force and NACA * * in 1945. It is a testing machine equipped with rocket engine and swept wing. Its main purpose is to study the influence of aerodynamic heating on the structure, flight stability and handling efficiency of aircraft body under the condition of high altitude and high speed flight.
X-3: The X-3 developed by Douglas Aircraft Company is 20.36m long, 3.8 1 m high and 6.92m wingspan. It looks like a dagger, which is the smoothest in the early X-series test aircraft. Unlike X- 1 and X-2, X-3 can take off and land by its own power and can maintain Mach 2 cruise. It is the first time that a large number of titanium alloys are used in the X-3 airframe structure. At the same time, the feasibility of wing loading wing with small aspect ratio and large aspect ratio is studied. The X-3' s slender fuselage and wings are short and thick, which is a typical layout of fighter planes being developed in the United States at that time. Later, the wing of the F- 104 star fighter was taken from the X-3.
X-3 is in the middle
X-4: The X-4 of Lothrop Aircraft Company is mainly used to verify the feasibility of semi-tailless supersonic flight. At that time, many people thought that this design without horizontal tail could avoid the interference of oscillation waves between wing and horizontal tail during supersonic flight.
X-5: Bell Aircraft's X-5 shifted its research focus to the variable swept wing. In appearance, the X-5 borrowed a lot from P. 1 10 1 developed by Germany during World War II, and all of them were designed with nose intake, bubble cockpit and lower engine. The wing of the X-5 can change between 20 and 60 degrees, which takes 20 seconds. When the electric sweepback angle device fails, the pilot can use the handbrake to complete the wing sweeping work (the X-5 can only land safely when the sweepback angle is lower than 40 degrees). X-5 is long 10. 18m, 3.66m high and 6.34m wingspan.
X-6: In that era when nuclear power was paramount, the U.S. Air Force even began to consider nuclear reactors as the power source for aircraft to obtain ultra-long flight capability. In this context, the X-6 project was launched. According to the original idea of the US Air Force and the US Atomic Energy Commission, the X-6 was based on the B-36 bomber and installed the AGP-1nuclear reactor. The heat generated by the X-6 will drive four GE J47 turbojet engines to run, thus providing flight power for the X-6.
X-7: The X-7 developed by Lockheed Missile and Space Company is mainly used for the research of high-speed ramjet engine. Its main models are X-7A- 1, X-7A-3 and X-7B. X-7 has a unique shape, with a length of 9.99 meters and a wingspan of 6.34 meters, so it is often called "flying chimney". During the test flight, the X-7 will be lifted off by carrier-based aircraft B-29 or B-50, and then leave the carrier-based aircraft, and its tail booster will be ignited to fly by itself. As soon as the ramjet started working, the booster was separated from the X-7.