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X-5 #
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Photo:
Robert Deering 10/18/2012 National Museum of the USAF Dayton, Ohio |
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The X-5 was the
world's first airplane to vary the sweepback
of its wings in flight. It was built to
prove the theory that by increasing the
sweepback of an airplane's wings after
takeoff, a higher maximum speed could be
obtained while still retaining low takeoff
and landing speed and higher rate of climb
with the wings swept forward. The X-5 was
based upon the design of a Messerschmitt P.
1101 airplane discovered in Germany at the
end of World War II, although the P. 1101
could vary its sweep only on the ground.
The first X-5 flight was made on June 20, 1951. On the airplane's ninth flight, its wings were operated through the full sweep range of 20-60 degrees. Two X-5s were built and flown. One crashed and was destroyed on Oct. 13, 1953, when it failed to recover from a spin at 60 degrees sweepback. The other was delivered to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in March 1958. |
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