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X-24B #
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Photo: Robert Deering 1985 National Museum of the USAF Wright-Paterson AFB (FFO) Dayton, Ohio |
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In 1972 the X-24A
was stripped to the basic framework and
rebuilt as the X-24B with a more stable
external configuration designed by the Air
Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory. The new
body was delta-shaped and had twice the
lifting surface of the X-24A. As a
continuation of PILOT, the goals of the
testing program were to explore handling
qualities of the wingless configuration for
extended near-earth flight and for
conventional runway approaches and landings.
The flight plan for the X-24B was much the same as that of the X-24A. After being carried to about 45,000 feet (13,680 meters) altitude by a B-52, the X-24B was released. Following ignition and burnout of the rocket engine, the pilot guided the lifting body to a glide landing. On Aug. 5, 1975, the X-24B made the first landing of a lifting body on a conventional runway. A second landing on the same runway on Aug. 20, 1975, confirmed that the lifting body could safely be landed like normal aircraft. The X-24B made its 36th and last flight on Nov. 26, 1975. It was delivered to the museum in November 1976. |
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