The Fastest X-Plane - Mach 7 North American X-15

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  • Опубликовано: 13 окт 2016
  • Describes how the X-15 Aircraft was designed and built by North American Aviation. Engineered to be the worlds fastest aircraft, the North American X-15 was a hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft operated by the USAF and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the X-plane experimental aerospace projects. The X-15 set speed and altitude records in the 1960s, reaching the edge of outer space and returning with valuable data later used in aircraft design. As of September 2015, the X-15 holds the official world record for the highest speed ever recorded by a manned, powered aircraft. It would ultimately reach a top speed of 4,520 miles per hour (7,274 km/h), or Mach 6.72.

Комментарии • 1,7 тыс.

  • @stevefowler2112
    @stevefowler2112 6 лет назад +61

    The X-15 played a pivotal role in my life's journey...my late Father was a Radar Guidance Engineer out at Cape Canaveral from '57 thru '76 and as a young boy I had the X-15 hanging in my room from the ceiling by fishing line...it cemented my interest in Aerospace and motivated me to put forth the energy in my academics to earn both an undergrad and grad degrees in Engineering. I just retired from Lockheed Martin in 2016, with most of the last 15 years on the job being spent working on the F22 and then F35 programs.

    • @MRYZ94
      @MRYZ94 Год назад +1

      That’s badass

    • @Trez1238
      @Trez1238 Год назад

      how much did lockheed pay for a job like that?

    • @Resistculturaldecline
      @Resistculturaldecline 7 месяцев назад +1

      Growing up, I didn't have sports heros or tv celebrity worship. Other than my elders, my heroes were those in the design and operation of the aeronautical industry.
      I grew up near a SAC AF base, and cannot remember back to a time I wasn't obsessed with flight and craft. Getting close to 50 yrs old, and it hasnt waned one bit. 🫡

    • @ironsandhammers359
      @ironsandhammers359 6 месяцев назад +1

      Great story, and i hope that by 2112 the pilots of the solar federation remember the feat

    • @suun9845
      @suun9845 3 месяца назад

      Thank you for contributing to such legendary feats of humanity.

  • @dsmith1888
    @dsmith1888 2 года назад +67

    The X-15 still holds the record from 1967 for the highest recorded speed from a manned aircraft in history.
    The test pilots were absolutely fearless. Everytime trying to achieve what had never been done before.
    They put their lives at risk each time, even when they had everything to lose, a wife, kids, family etc.
    But they still chose to do it. That is something I doubt we'll ever see again.

    • @trob0914
      @trob0914 Год назад +3

      William " Pete" Knight, Colonel, USAF, achieved Mach 6.7 on October 3, 1967!🇺🇸🇺🇸

    • @nedkelly9688
      @nedkelly9688 Год назад

      Nope Many countries are building scramjet engines for commercial flight
      Australia is a leader in it with worlds fastest first 3D printed scramjet and will have a drone built by next year to demonstrate it.
      Wants reusable satelite delivery scramjet drone and eventually a passenger jet.

    • @wileyeyefloaty665
      @wileyeyefloaty665 Год назад +3

      @@nedkelly9688 really? Would you mind elaborating on the comm air I was curious if you were able to break down the conversation as I thought the scramjet is A much less efficient platform in terms of fuel consumption and B much more costly to manufacture. Has something been revolutionized in the propulsion dynamics to perform more well rounded than turbojet comparison

    • @berty1422
      @berty1422 Год назад

      Utter crap.
      The Chinese or Russians will have gone beyond that. You just do not hear about it.
      Jeez, you Muricans believe anything you hear.

    • @dsmith1888
      @dsmith1888 Год назад +1

      @@berty1422 - Thanks for your service.

  • @wannabetowasabe
    @wannabetowasabe 6 лет назад +154

    My dad was a design engineer on this project. His first project after he graduated from college was the P-38. He also worked on the B-70 and Apollo while he was with North American. Nearly everything else he worked on was secret and he could not tell us anything about it. He understood physics so very well and I had a hard time with it. In that case the apple fell far from the tree!

    • @achach5055
      @achach5055 4 года назад +7

      I bet he had some great stories to tell

    • @SantaCruzLocal
      @SantaCruzLocal 3 года назад +9

      Awesome.. he probably worked with my grandfather.. Raymond Rice .. VP and GM of NAA prior to being Cheif engineer of the P-51.

    • @dallasyap3064
      @dallasyap3064 Год назад

      Your dad is a goddamn genius

    • @militaryandemergencyservic3286
      @militaryandemergencyservic3286 Год назад

      Newton watched an apple fall far from the tree. So you are not so far removed from genius.

    • @wannabetowasabe
      @wannabetowasabe Год назад +3

      @@militaryandemergencyservic3286 I became a forester, then worked for a large land management agency. I worked 4 years in fire management and the rest in recreation and lands (special uses, land exchanges/purchases), law enforcement and as an on call accident and personnel misconduct investigator. I'm far from a genius, but above average in intelligence. I think my dad was more intelligent, but he also had a lot of faults in his personal life that I managed to avoid.

  • @Irwhodunit
    @Irwhodunit 6 лет назад +470

    Metalhead commented about 100 mph to Mach 7 in 50 years. Think about this: These engineers did virtually all of their math with slide-rules. Frigging Amazing!

    • @jumperstartful
      @jumperstartful 6 лет назад +6

      slip sticks

    • @ramairgto72
      @ramairgto72 6 лет назад +13

      Go's beyond that, think about WWII Aircraft carriers, B17 and yea the SR71.
      It's sad we have come to depend so much on "not knowing" how to do it.
      Maybe I seen too many Star Trek shows, but it seems we are heading down a dead end.

    • @dannygjk
      @dannygjk 6 лет назад +4

      +ramairgto72 I don't get the point you are making with your comment. What do you mean by dead end?

    • @DixieDiarist
      @DixieDiarist 6 лет назад +8

      Most engineers today couldn't use a slide rule. It's not even taught anymore. They'd be lost without a calculator that weighs more than their lunch.

    • @dcbeards
      @dcbeards 6 лет назад +3

      Robert Blake!
      Frigging Amazing!
      You sure have that right!

  • @krr1260
    @krr1260 6 лет назад +170

    "Grampa, what did you do in the Air Force?" Now try to imagine the smile and glint in those pilots' eyes. Thank You gentlemen for your service.

    • @killdaire7589
      @killdaire7589 4 года назад +5

      "I dropped the bombs on Hiroshima"

    • @ahpinge2777
      @ahpinge2777 3 года назад +7

      @@killdaire7589 More like *_''I ended WWII''_* .

    • @thomasleclair7418
      @thomasleclair7418 3 года назад

      ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,wow,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,awesome ...................

    • @petetimbrell3527
      @petetimbrell3527 3 года назад

      The term "Steely Eyed Missile-Man" leaps to mind. Awesome.

    • @KutWrite
      @KutWrite 3 года назад +1

      What about the glint in the eye of those who piloted craft they can never talk about?

  • @robertodeleon-gonzalez9844
    @robertodeleon-gonzalez9844 7 лет назад +1515

    *This* is what we should be getting from the History Channel.

    • @GruntUltra
      @GruntUltra 7 лет назад +132

      Yup, but instead we get one show that says aliens invented everything, and two scripted shows about buying and selling random stuff. I'm ready to dump cable and just watch Netflix & youtube.

    • @robertodeleon-gonzalez9844
      @robertodeleon-gonzalez9844 7 лет назад +48

      I hear you. I miss things like the Discovery channel's Wings, not to mention History's Modern Marvels, The Real West, The Civil War, History Undercover, Dead Man's Secrets, History vs. Hollywood... Also, A&E's Biography. In vowing to the Almighty Dollar, these channel have forsaken their audiences.

    • @fjoa123
      @fjoa123 7 лет назад +34

      cable TV is for the feeble minded. All you get now is shows about dumb people making money.

    • @robertodeleon-gonzalez9844
      @robertodeleon-gonzalez9844 7 лет назад +24

      Not all of it, but most steers towards the lowest common denominator: that is, the present-day equivalent bread and circus in classical Rome.

    • @blameusa7082
      @blameusa7082 7 лет назад +16

      yeh and discovery channel, i gave up with them about 5 years ago, they started to just do retarded libtard filming. all drama and no science

  • @Daponics89
    @Daponics89 4 года назад +35

    Skippin' off the atmosphere and reaching that speed must be amazing... My dad did two deployments with the SR-71 in Okinawa in the 70's when they went off the Buick engine start carts. Edit: went from McClellan AFB and Beale AFB and later to WRAFB where I am now. Cheers!

  • @NickAlpha_
    @NickAlpha_ 7 лет назад +299

    Everything was designed with minimal use of ancient computers and mostly by hand and paper and this makes it an even greater achievement ...

    • @ifabforfun
      @ifabforfun 6 лет назад +23

      Computers are overrated, at least the people using them... I'm a welder - fabricator and have been met with "engineers" telling me "it's not possible" to draw this cut on the computer. WHAT? It can be drawn out by hand in about an hour but not by this guy, who makes more than me, sitting at a computer.

    • @roysheaks1261
      @roysheaks1261 6 лет назад +4

      Nick Alpha Slide rule technology.

    • @philgiglio9656
      @philgiglio9656 6 лет назад +3

      Roy Sheaks... I still have mine. Bought May 1967 for $25; lots of money at the time. A log log duciplex with P,Q,R scales for vectors.

    • @rogerfournier3284
      @rogerfournier3284 5 лет назад

      ON POINT.

    • @ICeyCeR3Al
      @ICeyCeR3Al 5 лет назад +2

      Of course greater things can be achieved. Probably not mach 7; that is fantasy talk lol. But no doubt if an aviation company were to invest 10s of billions into a an aircraft....it will be MUCH MUCH MUCH faster and more efficient than even the holy SR-71. Because of the precision of computers, humans can create advanced algorithms. But our insight can only go so far where as computer's can artificially create reality.
      But yeah....10s of billions? For what? For who? What are businesses gaining? They are probably certain to succeed in creating revolutionary aircraft, but even then....its stupid lol. Next thing you know our airplane tickets are 10x normal price

  • @Mark-oj8wj
    @Mark-oj8wj 4 года назад +272

    These old documentaries show clearly that we made all our advances in the 50s and 60s.
    After that we've just tinkered with the same formula!

    • @thisis_shon
      @thisis_shon 4 года назад +22

      Hello, you stupid fool. Do you remember your grandparents telling you about a glass slab that lets you access virtually anything ever? No. I didn't think so either. They are called Mobile Devices. The whole shit happened in the 2000s. Don't be ignorant to all the things happening now. We've made more advancements in the last 25 years than humanity has in the past millennium.

    • @Mark-oj8wj
      @Mark-oj8wj 4 года назад +18

      @@thisis_shon Yeah, tinkered with computing and came up with mobile devices. If you think that's groundbreaking like say inventing the aeroplane, you are the fool!

    • @HRM.H
      @HRM.H 4 года назад +5

      Yeah the 60s seem till 90s seem like the biggest jump forward in centruries.

    • @sethjansson5652
      @sethjansson5652 4 года назад +1

      @@Mark-oj8wj Ever heard of the internet? Wifi? GPS? Guess this, the magic frequency? You dwell too much in the past and not enough in the future. The boomers only dug a hole that we now need to fix.

    • @Mark-oj8wj
      @Mark-oj8wj 4 года назад +22

      @@sethjansson5652 Well gps was invented in 1973 so good example there genius. The Internet was invented in 1983 and WiFi in 1997 but like I said, they're just products of tinkering with the computer, which was invented between 1833 and 1871!
      Looks like you're dwelling in the past with me.

  • @richardhead8264
    @richardhead8264 5 лет назад +100

    *_16:39_**_ ELVIS!!!_*

  • @1twilight9
    @1twilight9 7 лет назад +530

    It's a rocket with windows on the top that flies Horizontally

    • @MyGeorg13
      @MyGeorg13 6 лет назад +3

      yep

    • @scorpio1154
      @scorpio1154 6 лет назад

      1twilight9 right

    • @nickvledder
      @nickvledder 6 лет назад +9

      And does some serious environmental damage.

    • @Tom_Hadler
      @Tom_Hadler 6 лет назад +1

      1twilight9 It's thunderbird 1

    • @justgonnastay
      @justgonnastay 6 лет назад +7

      Nick Vledder "And does some serious environmental damage." Can you explain this please?

  • @eddieagnich1875
    @eddieagnich1875 2 года назад +23

    The X-15 was like all the other amazing things we grew up with. I loved the X-15. I made the Revell X-15 that I built hanging from my ceiling. I was born in 57. A fantastic time
    to grow up.

    • @kvarnerinfoTV
      @kvarnerinfoTV 2 года назад +2

      I was born in 81 and I agree...best time to being born in. My dad's birn in 58.
      I can imagine how great time for growing, being young adult it was..music, events, society. To be grown up in the midfle of 70s, then 80s..wow..

    • @finddeniro
      @finddeniro 2 года назад +2

      1957..Sure...I had X- 15 loafers ( shoes ) in the Mid 1960s...I met John Glenn twice..yeah Ohio..My father 40th birthday..1st Moon Landing...

    • @williamweir2744
      @williamweir2744 2 года назад +1

      I'm born in 54 I can remember this

    • @ericleesmith708
      @ericleesmith708 Год назад

      Yep, it was an amazing time to grow up - I was born in 1955, and built the same Revell model kit of the X-15! A few years later, I also got interested in the Land Speed Record assault at the Salt Flats in Utah between The Arfons brothers and Craig Breedlove - this led to my building and testing of a series of rocket cars that were basically Estes model rockets that had 3 or 4 wheels and ran along a cable stretched along the ground out on the then new I-74 freeway that ran thru the Quad Cities in the Midwest my test program came to a halt when the freeway was opened! What a wonderous time to grow up!

  • @ladypilliwick8179
    @ladypilliwick8179 6 лет назад +303

    my father was a pilot with the X 15 project...don't know if he ever got to fly it but do know he flew the U2. . over Russian and cuba...
    the shuttle was the X 20. ...
    all the Mercury pilots used to visit the house for a cup of coffee
    great childhood

    • @TheYavy
      @TheYavy 5 лет назад +7

      Lady pilliwick u are 40 yrs old now?

    • @intrepidexplorator8618
      @intrepidexplorator8618 5 лет назад +1

      Wow that's Trippy Cool

    • @AmericanTestConstitution
      @AmericanTestConstitution 5 лет назад +5

      That's awesome!

    • @robertarnold9815
      @robertarnold9815 5 лет назад +8

      Pretty easy to check the names of X-15 pilots since its not classified. The X-20 or Dyna-Soar was to use "skip-glide" not orbital insertion so really not like the Space Shuttle. But cool he flew U2s, etc.

    • @RuminatingWizard
      @RuminatingWizard 5 лет назад +1

      So you must be in your mid 60s

  • @henrymillar6130
    @henrymillar6130 5 лет назад +25

    I worked at North American as a machinist on X-15 after getting out of the navy it was a big deal then and when it finished we taken out to seethe finished product.

    • @hlcepeda
      @hlcepeda 5 лет назад

      Did you stick around for the Rockwell Intl' and Boeing days?

    • @SantaCruzLocal
      @SantaCruzLocal 3 года назад

      You must haven’t worked with my grand father then at the time. Raymond H Rice , NAA Vice President and general manager , prior to being Design Engineer during the ww2 P-51 years.

  • @thedarkside13
    @thedarkside13 4 года назад +58

    4:37 Woow, cameraman very brave to hang on like that!!...

    • @agentskylark9212
      @agentskylark9212 3 года назад

      @@ivefallenandicantgetup7950 No, the cameraman ... is the plane *dun dun dun*

    • @llounfox9290
      @llounfox9290 3 года назад

      @@agentskylark9212 I never did this so I will whoosh u

    • @agentskylark9212
      @agentskylark9212 3 года назад

      @@llounfox9290 well if you looked at who I was replying to u would see they deleted their comment so no, it was a continuation of a joke

    • @llounfox9290
      @llounfox9290 3 года назад

      @@agentskylark9212 I knew it was a joke so I made a better joke

    • @agentskylark9212
      @agentskylark9212 3 года назад

      @@llounfox9290 guess I cant argue with that, my joke from a month ago doesnt make sense anymore

  • @TechnoGeek209
    @TechnoGeek209 6 лет назад +22

    Damn, this thing is so fast that it can fly from my country to the USA in a little over an hour, whereas it usually takes 9 and a half hour to do so.
    I hope that someday we'll see passenger planes fly just as fast...

    • @SourPatch97
      @SourPatch97 Год назад +1

      Very fast but engine power only lasted 2 minutes at most

  • @JIMJAMSC
    @JIMJAMSC 7 лет назад +39

    When one of the automobiles of the era or fire truck get into the scene the contrast with the aircraft still amazes me. The SR-71 for example still looks as radical as it did then but park a 60s family car next to it.

    • @FPV-wi8fw
      @FPV-wi8fw 7 лет назад +4

      ya its crazy how advanced some of these aircraft looked

    • @almorris171
      @almorris171 5 лет назад +1

      I dreamed of a Mach II SS Chevelle back in the day. The closest thing was a fricking Mustang. ;)

    • @jbolton4973
      @jbolton4973 4 года назад

      It's the aliens

  • @blight2638
    @blight2638 5 лет назад +6

    The sight of the b52 carrying the smaller plane is so cool!

  • @tanukicyber
    @tanukicyber 5 лет назад +32

    I love the F-104 Straighter chase planes, too!

  • @jacksaintjack2844
    @jacksaintjack2844 Год назад +15

    I was into building model planes as a kid. Just had to have an X-15 kit. Got it and it was a thrill just putting it together. What an absolutely beautiful craft.

    • @militaryandemergencyservic3286
      @militaryandemergencyservic3286 Год назад

      my sons and I are using an old canoe - wrap it in black tape and stick a cone on the front - add some wings and the tailplane and you have VERY passable x15.

    • @user-ud2ze9is5h
      @user-ud2ze9is5h 10 месяцев назад

      ❤ankh uthi

    • @user-ud2ze9is5h
      @user-ud2ze9is5h 10 месяцев назад

      ​@@militaryandemergencyservic3286 yes old one old 🏫 designed

  • @BryonLape
    @BryonLape 6 лет назад +90

    50,000 feet traveling Mach 2 and he sounds bored out of his skull. Big brass ones there.

    • @joeytroutman9506
      @joeytroutman9506 6 лет назад +4

      Bryon Lape thinking the same thing

    • @EarthWasHere
      @EarthWasHere 5 лет назад +4

      He must have flown the sr-71 and said this shit is slow!

    • @somethingelse4878
      @somethingelse4878 3 года назад +1

      Same with British lightings going mach 2.2 and up to 88000ft it was nothing to them

    • @mercoid
      @mercoid 3 года назад

      He’s at work. That’s all.

  • @somebooooooody
    @somebooooooody 3 года назад +10

    I bet the people back in the days "Sh@t! when we can make this thing go THIS fast, imagine how fast the people in the year 2020 can achieve"
    People in 2020 - Still watching the documentary made on 1959...

  • @bearguy1090
    @bearguy1090 7 лет назад +2021

    Does anyone else fine it depressing that so much advancement was made in the 40's, 50's, and 60's. And now gov funding goes to political crap that advances nothing?

    • @wildboar7473
      @wildboar7473 6 лет назад +240

      Dont worry They have plenty, just not for you to know.

    • @bearguy1090
      @bearguy1090 6 лет назад +47

      I hope so.

    • @thegreyghost5846
      @thegreyghost5846 6 лет назад +147

      Bear Guy I find it depressing that the history channel doesn't actually play historical content

    • @ifabforfun
      @ifabforfun 6 лет назад +132

      Wartime = Innovation

    • @brianbiernat3662
      @brianbiernat3662 6 лет назад +48

      Trillions are spent....believe it, it's all paying for something. Something we don't need to know about.

  • @YoooooWhassup
    @YoooooWhassup 4 года назад +15

    To think this aircraft was developed so long ago and how much they learnt from it. It's unimaginable to think what they have developed lately that we won't find out about. Fascinating

  • @Sai-iz3ep
    @Sai-iz3ep 4 года назад +9

    The reason why so much development happened in the 20th century than the 21st is because advancement usually progresses faster during wartime

    • @ottolachenauer4969
      @ottolachenauer4969 3 года назад

      Weve been in a war since 911

    • @lucastekkan
      @lucastekkan 3 года назад +1

      @@ottolachenauer4969 it's not a war that motivates development

  • @alexbloom4879
    @alexbloom4879 4 года назад +10

    It still impresses me that even at this speed it would take you years to fly around a colossal red supergiant.

  • @theliberalrepublican5910
    @theliberalrepublican5910 Год назад +2

    I'm old enough to remember these flights. We used to cut up the wings on our balsa gliders to be little stubby wings and called our planes X-15s.

  • @macwizer
    @macwizer 5 лет назад +32

    I was there as a young Airman to see it fly in 1965-66 at Edwards Flight Test Center. It was an Amazing time in aviation history

    • @iogamer5786
      @iogamer5786 3 года назад +3

      That is really cool. Glad you could have seen this!

    • @wilsonthuo9639
      @wilsonthuo9639 Год назад

      What a great voice of the presenter

  • @screamingnighthog7155
    @screamingnighthog7155 2 года назад +9

    Way back in the late 60's when I was in elementary school the Air Force brought a trailer with an X-15 on it to our school for the kids to see. It was the coolest thing in life I had ever seen up to that point.

    • @mrnobody8540
      @mrnobody8540 2 года назад +1

      had NASA and even a field trip to a airport flight Tower control center 😋. got to talk a aircraft that it needed to relocate to a lower/higher area of space... boy we had it good 👍

  • @FNHaole
    @FNHaole 5 лет назад +118

    An aircraft configured to fly that fast must’ve been comically.difficult to land unpowered. BIG respect to the pilots! Also, with the main gear positioned so far behind the center of gravity, the cockpit seemed to be the head of a striking hammer upon touchdown. The X-15 pilots’ back pain must’ve been excruciating.

  • @juana1483
    @juana1483 Год назад +6

    They designed these using slide rules. For those who know what this is??? Lol

    • @stedebassett1523
      @stedebassett1523 2 месяца назад

      Yes...no internet, no Google. You had to be smart then.

  • @ImGoingSupersonic
    @ImGoingSupersonic Год назад +1

    Strange watching an aircraft this fast and it wasn't recorded in 8k. Television was way behind lol.

  • @teamtoken
    @teamtoken 6 лет назад +118

    Back when America was really pushing the technological barrier. Great time to be an Engineer

    • @RealityIsTheNow
      @RealityIsTheNow 6 лет назад +20

      They still are. From Intel to Google to SpaceX, to landing nuclear vehicles on other worlds. There's a lot happening.

    • @joefarrar472
      @joefarrar472 6 лет назад +1

      Yes, godfather.

    • @ratbatnufftime2861
      @ratbatnufftime2861 5 лет назад +6

      They had no choice. The USSR was blowing smoke up their ass.

    • @foodcrumbs9136
      @foodcrumbs9136 5 лет назад +3

      @@RealityIsTheNow those are private companies though. Back then it was all government funded.

    • @RealityIsTheNow
      @RealityIsTheNow 5 лет назад +13

      Food Crumbs Actually, SpaceX built the Falcon 9 using government money and a lot of technology and engineering talent from NASA. So far, through the COTS program, NASA has pumped about $400 million into SpaceX for the Falcon 9, Dragon, and the test launches. And this doesn't include the ongoing costs of hiring SpaceX to run cargo to the ISS. Thats running into the billions. And back in the day it was private companies as well. Grumman Aircraft designed and built the lunar lander. Rocketdyne designed and built the F-1 engines for the Saturn V, and the Saturn V itself was mostly built by Boeing and Douglas and North American Aviation.

  • @amoryjones-danley7579
    @amoryjones-danley7579 2 года назад +3

    Either a model or a legitimate production of the X-15 (I'm not sure which it's been a while since I've been there) currently sits at the New Mexico Space History Museum in Alamogordo, NM. Anyone interested in the history of aviation and space flight should pay this museum a visit!

  • @FlyingRagilein
    @FlyingRagilein 2 года назад +7

    Look at the oscillations at 14:03. I have read Scott's great book "Always Another Dawn" but seeing those in original film material is awesome.

  • @francescofissore161
    @francescofissore161 5 лет назад +11

    Great filming, so nostalgic 'retrò' and full of fascinating details... thanx so much.
    p.s. We collectors of military flight helmets (and related accessories) get goosebumps all over, every time we see Scott Crossfield wearing that hyper-ultra-rare MC-3 helmet - originally made by Bill Jack Scentific Instruments, and custom-modified by the famed D. Clark Company.
    Of course we know only too well it will stay a dream forever, so we think back at how many and wich quality the pieces are in our collections (mine counted in past years some fifty helmets + oxygen fittings, from worldwide) but granted.. I know personally of certain guys who perhaps, would get seriously tempted trading their younger daughter for some top rare helmet of the high-altitude category...
    .. I would have done that, maybe, by using 'only' my sweetheart ah ah... supposedly being less hard-to-find than certain helmets !!
    Greetings from Italy.

  • @charletonzimmerman4205
    @charletonzimmerman4205 7 лет назад +131

    What a wonderful time in History! Late 1950's Sputnik, Explorer, X-15, leading to, Mercury program! And 1st Nuclear Submarine, the Nautilus, USA! What a Time!

    • @SweetDrummerNrOne
      @SweetDrummerNrOne 7 лет назад +1

      Yeah really and the Vietnam War! ...

    • @charletonzimmerman4205
      @charletonzimmerman4205 7 лет назад +4

      Oh get over that? You GO?

    • @TheBigMamao
      @TheBigMamao 7 лет назад +10

      Do you really believe that? I KNOW I would like to believe that, but I can't. I was there. I wasn't in a classroom, thinking about it...... I was up to my knees in rice patty's with my m-16, going up against Charlie, sluggin' it out with him, while pussies, like you, were back here partying, putting headbands on, doing drugs and listening to their godamn Beatles albums!!!!!!!! UHHH!!!! UHHH!!!! UHHH!!!!

    • @charletonzimmerman4205
      @charletonzimmerman4205 7 лет назад +4

      Yea right! 10 year old 1965! 1976 US Navy, 1985 Carrier! Persian Gulf , Lebanon, "Cleaning up for you're "LOST WAR"

    • @TheBigMamao
      @TheBigMamao 7 лет назад +4

      Charlton, my comment was in response to SweetDrummerNrOne.

  • @aldofranco6764
    @aldofranco6764 3 года назад +5

    Neil Armostrong was one of the pilot of X-15, the bomber and the jet that is next to the X-15 in the moment of landing

    • @robertodeleon-gonzalez9844
      @robertodeleon-gonzalez9844 Год назад

      That jet next to the X-15 when it lands would be a chase plane. They play a vital role in such flights.

  • @robertmayfield8746
    @robertmayfield8746 3 месяца назад

    Usually I don't like old doucmentaries due to bad voiceover. But I appreciate this one. It was really good.

  • @yahatinda
    @yahatinda 5 лет назад +1

    X-15 was a technical marvel

  • @obadiahkilgore2964
    @obadiahkilgore2964 3 года назад +6

    Always loved these good, dense documentaries. I was excited to see Modern Marvels back on History, until I watched it. It's like it's made for children.

  • @ifabforfun
    @ifabforfun 6 лет назад +76

    saw some X-Planes at the Wright-Patt museum in Ohio... was pretty awesome to see them up close, considering how insanely fast those vehicles moved at some point.

    • @ramairgto72
      @ramairgto72 6 лет назад

      It's like looking at Dolly Parton's TiTs.

    • @fredgenge7404
      @fredgenge7404 6 лет назад +4

      Scotty had a bunch of stories about those flights. I think the best one was about the flight where the back got broke when the engine caught fire. I miss a good friend. See you down range Scotty with Mary and the rest. Rest!
      Fred

    • @wrightflyer7855
      @wrightflyer7855 6 лет назад +4

      Probably about that. As an example, the SR-71 has been credited with Mach 3.5 and an altitude of 80,000 feet. The Mach number is close, but it's more likely around Mach 3.2 continuous with possibly a short dash speed above that. The claim of 80,000 feet is probably conservative. Source: my Air Force experience from '68 to '72'.

    • @terrywbreedlove
      @terrywbreedlove 5 лет назад +1

      I sat in a SR71 at the Boeing flight museum. Even at my old age it was super fun to actually sit in that baby. Such a large plane but a small cockpit.

    • @cirocosta8006
      @cirocosta8006 5 лет назад

      The Viewer formerly known as Prince - Q Q Q Q Q QQ

  • @peppermintcatsass3141
    @peppermintcatsass3141 6 лет назад +20

    I miss hearing multiple sonic BOOM when I lived near the base as a child in the 60s...good times🖤

    • @paulshaffer9674
      @paulshaffer9674 2 года назад +1

      I lived most of my life under the flight pattern of Davis Monthon.

    • @peppermintcatsass3141
      @peppermintcatsass3141 2 года назад

      @@paulshaffer9674 ...now that would be intense.

  • @igostupidfast3
    @igostupidfast3 Год назад

    I think I saw this video multiple times when I was a kid. Good memories

  • @cacador235
    @cacador235 4 года назад +10

    Em 1986 os radares da força aérea brasileira registraram um objeto voador não identificado (ovni) que alcançou 15.000 km/h! Uma velocidade absurda naquela época, e hj também!

    • @jeanlopes1389
      @jeanlopes1389 2 года назад +1

      VDD EU ERA O OVNI

    • @cacador235
      @cacador235 2 года назад +1

      @@jeanlopes1389 compreensível tenha um bom dia!

    • @jeanlopes1389
      @jeanlopes1389 2 года назад

      @@cacador235 vai responder num comentário de 2 anos atrás kkk tu é o cara kkk

    • @cacador235
      @cacador235 2 года назад

      @@jeanlopes1389 você também kkk

  • @BoudewijnvanHouten
    @BoudewijnvanHouten 2 года назад +8

    It's sad that 60 years later Richard Branson is struggling to do the same with his Virgin Galactic space-project.

  • @Herman47
    @Herman47 6 лет назад +2

    I regard the Blackbird as a plane; I regard the X-15 as a rocket.

  • @adamjhuber
    @adamjhuber Год назад +1

    0:36 both Al White and Joe Walker lost their lives on 8 June 1966, when XB-70A No. 2 crashed. RIP. They don’t make them like that anymore. 🇺🇸

  • @danapeck5382
    @danapeck5382 7 лет назад +3

    Crossfield was also a great guy to hang out with during his staff days with House Science Committee circa late 1970's.

  • @jonhare392
    @jonhare392 7 лет назад +35

    My uncle Hiagh Kalustian was the principle of the Edwards Air Force base elementary School during the early sixties. My brother and sister and I got to meet Scott Crossfield when I was 5 years old. I sort of remember but was a little too young for details. My brother was 12 and my sister was 10.

    • @SantaCruzLocal
      @SantaCruzLocal 3 года назад +1

      My Grandfather was Raymond H Rice . Vice President and general manager of NAA during that time of the X-15.

    • @williamduff5265
      @williamduff5265 3 года назад +1

      @@SantaCruzLocal My dad worked on the x-15 project at North Amerian. Scott Crossfield lived 7 streets to the East of us and I went to school with his son Paul.

    • @KutWrite
      @KutWrite 3 года назад

      In 1960 I saw Crossfield's photo in a book I sent for about the X-15. I kept that book for decades.

    • @sidibaaa
      @sidibaaa 2 года назад

      @@KutWrite you should save thats books forever

  • @nickashton3584
    @nickashton3584 5 лет назад +2

    always loved the x15 grew up during the space race loved the space race very exciting time

  • @judithrivers-moore4851
    @judithrivers-moore4851 Год назад +1

    My hat is off to the many brave men I saw climb into the X-15's and move off the ramp under the wing of the B-52. Flite Line in 62,63 and 64. Amazing men who created all the telementry, the skins, photography and fuels. They were all flying by the seat of their pants to get the space program into actions. All done without computers at that time!!!

  • @paxwallacejazz
    @paxwallacejazz 6 лет назад +36

    F-104 Starfighter the ultimate classic chase plane

    • @djizzah
      @djizzah 5 лет назад +1

      widowmaker..highly unstable

  • @adamg9079
    @adamg9079 6 лет назад +9

    I love how he says "very powerful rudders on this baby" like he's never flown it before. He just hops in and goes mach 2. I sir. Worship your balls.

  • @brendaproffitt1011
    @brendaproffitt1011 6 лет назад +1

    This is incredible documentary film...Awesome job....great information on this video too...very interesting to me too...and I do greatly appreciate it too...Thank you so much for your videos too...

  • @vrdengineering5204
    @vrdengineering5204 4 года назад +1

    The wild west of aeronautical engineering. Wish it was still this exciting.

  • @paulsimmons5726
    @paulsimmons5726 7 лет назад +259

    All the pilots in this program and the moon shot missions were simply heroes!
    Great stuff for what we Americans should stand for, sadly today's news reports don't seem to have time for bravery.
    God bless these ol' school pilots for their dedication and the sacrifices they made along the way!

    • @FangsOfTheNidhogg
      @FangsOfTheNidhogg 7 лет назад +10

      Nobody wants to pay for these kind of projects anymore. All this stuff got done in the 50's because taxes were at an insane level coming out of world war 2. But anyways, I do agree, this era of aviation is incredibly fascinating. A lot of this technology seems to have been shoved into a filing cabinet and striped of funding as Rocket technology improved vastly in the 60's.

    • @HardCoreCesare
      @HardCoreCesare 7 лет назад

      holy words!

    • @HB-ps6rn
      @HB-ps6rn 7 лет назад +6

      Taxes were that high so they could recover from the great depression. This new era of aviation was sparked by the cold war and the race for technology that followed

    • @P4ul0C354r
      @P4ul0C354r 7 лет назад +2

      Indeed sir. Wise words.

    • @user-ww2lc1yo9c
      @user-ww2lc1yo9c 7 лет назад +7

      America did not stand for invading other countries on pack of lies and supporting opressive regimes like the Saudi Arabia at that time.

  • @outofbluepills
    @outofbluepills 6 лет назад +8

    To me, the X-15 will always be, first and foremost, the Estes rocket I accidentally shot into the ceiling of my room, when I was a kid. My parents agree!

    • @fraupitzler9385
      @fraupitzler9385 6 лет назад

      I had one too... was it not powered by H2O2? Peroxide? You have to load it with a white powder!

    • @alanmagnuson8336
      @alanmagnuson8336 5 лет назад

      I converted the Revell X-15 plastic model into an Estes rocket by putting an engine tube into the fuselage. It landed on the roof of my grandma's farmhouse -- good times.

    • @williamdolyniuk7804
      @williamdolyniuk7804 3 года назад +1

      Good one good one. Broke the antique light fix ture with my swing finally sold those clubs a few years ago. L.O.L.

  • @UniteWorldPeace
    @UniteWorldPeace 2 года назад +1

    My smartphone has more computing power than those engineers, and all I can build is an A4 paper airplane.

  • @haroldmclean3755
    @haroldmclean3755 Год назад

    Those were some Very Brave and Skillful Test Pilots 👍

  • @justicewarrior9187
    @justicewarrior9187 5 лет назад +54

    In the freaking 60's???
    Imagine what they have now!!!

    • @gaittr
      @gaittr 5 лет назад +40

      Justice Warrior sadly enough what Americans think is their most recent Triumph is the right to use the other genders bathroom. I am an American

    • @Spacejunk57
      @Spacejunk57 5 лет назад +5

      Nothing remotely like that.

    • @TheSSDrift
      @TheSSDrift 5 лет назад +25

      America's most proud invention of the last 15 years is Facebook. Gotta love innovation. /sarcasm

    • @hallowrdean7409
      @hallowrdean7409 5 лет назад

      Actually f-15 still holds the fastest record mach 7

    • @BionicBurke
      @BionicBurke 4 года назад +9

      @@hallowrdean7409 no.... just no... where the hell did you get this bit of absolutely false information?

  • @Ryan-9000
    @Ryan-9000 7 лет назад +4

    Great upload thanks :)

  • @honigson8776
    @honigson8776 3 года назад +1

    Mad respect for dat landing

  • @FloppyHat
    @FloppyHat 4 года назад +8

    I saw the entire video waiting to see Mach 7 but it ended up and Mach 2.3 . Silly me...

  • @rohnkd4hct260
    @rohnkd4hct260 6 лет назад +3

    X-15 was an amazing craft.

  • @josefranciscoghignattiwart1754
    @josefranciscoghignattiwart1754 2 года назад

    This X-15 rocket is resting at White Paterson Base Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. Good to see it!

  • @chuckbrasch4575
    @chuckbrasch4575 7 месяцев назад

    Very interesting video.. I worked on this project from 1962 - 1964. My job was to maintain the microwave network on the Edwards High Range system. I got a chance to see many launches while I was out in the field, pretty impressive to say the least. Some of my stations had the ability to monitor the voice communication, which was really neat to listen to!.......Good Job!!

  • @rwatson2609
    @rwatson2609 5 лет назад +12

    Amazing aircraft, but it really had limited uses since it had such a short flight time. Either way, it did fly twice the speed of the next fastest aircraft and about three times higher as well. Heck, it could even just touch the edge of space at 330,000 ft, try doing that in your Cessna 172.

    • @dallasyap3064
      @dallasyap3064 Год назад

      It actually did flew to space, twice if not mistaken.

    • @rwatson2609
      @rwatson2609 Год назад

      @@dallasyap3064 I unfortunately watched this video 3 years ago so the information in my head is really rusty. But yes twice is easily believable. I believe there were a few of these experimental aircraft, maybe three?

    • @dallasyap3064
      @dallasyap3064 Год назад +2

      @@rwatson2609 technically, twice by international standard, but by US standard, it happened multiple times. The US and the international standard for the karman line are different; the US designates it at 50 miles, the international designated karman line is 100km. Many of the X-15 flights surpassed US 50 mile line, which led to those pilots being eligible for and awarded the military astronaut/space badges. But only 2 of the X-15 flights actually surpassed the international 100km line.

    • @rwatson2609
      @rwatson2609 Год назад +2

      @@dallasyap3064 Very interesting. Thanks for the info.

  • @MrTommySullivan
    @MrTommySullivan 7 лет назад +55

    I saw the X-15 at the Aeronautic Museum in Washington, D.C. - what a bad ass looking plane!

    • @bafa000
      @bafa000 7 лет назад +4

      Nice museum. I am glad I live like 5 mins away from those - Did you check the Udvar Hazy close to Dulles?

    • @vegardpig8634
      @vegardpig8634 7 лет назад

      i wish we had that in norway, all we have is oil and some stupid fjords

    • @piski82
      @piski82 6 лет назад +3

      This is not a plane. It is a rocket with small wings. It can`t even to takeoff itself. They just seat a pilot on a rocket. Peace of crap, exectly... but it gave alot of expiriens.

    • @serigraph73
      @serigraph73 6 лет назад +2

      The other surviving one is at WPAFB in Dayton, Ohio. My home town. Such a great museum there

    • @Davidpetty87
      @Davidpetty87 6 лет назад +1

      PO G my grandfather moved it around edwards a lot of the time all over edwards afb

  • @thehouso
    @thehouso 7 лет назад +9

    the pilots of all the aircraft used are brave souls. Just think of how far space exploration would be today if all humans on earth worked together for the advancement of of our species. The goal is the same so why not work together. Think of all the money that would be saved by working together.

    • @bmay81
      @bmay81 5 лет назад

      thehouso instead people just want to get rich selling shit made in China.

  • @jimparsons6803
    @jimparsons6803 5 лет назад +1

    Cool. One of my in-laws few in the B-52 during the earl 60s.

  • @AAthlete34
    @AAthlete34 6 лет назад +7

    It's basically a rocket being dropped and trying to go as fast as possible!!!

  • @florianwolf9380
    @florianwolf9380 6 лет назад +39

    Scott Crossfield, Brian Shula and Neil Armstrong are the heroes of my youth - oh, how I wanted to be like them. Today - much older, but not necessarily wiser 😋 - I still relish in their achievements. Remember, this is "crude" 60ies technology, so even more admirable from today's perspective. The height & speed records of the X-15 and SR-71 still stand today, and probably will until the end of time. No-one flew higher and faster than these guys !

    • @andgate2000
      @andgate2000 5 лет назад +5

      Florian Wolf I think the sr71 flew a lot faster than we’re told.

    • @dallasyap3064
      @dallasyap3064 Год назад +1

      Another similar experimental aircraft, X-43 flew way faster than the X-15. The X-43 flew up to mach 9.6 if not mistaken, but this was an unmanned aircraft compared to the X-15 which was manned.

    • @juana1483
      @juana1483 Год назад

      Don Shula is mine. And John Madden.

  • @joey0077d
    @joey0077d 3 года назад +1

    This all lead up too the SR 71. Now from the SR 71 to now there close to light speed. They have to be. Tech work is twenty years ahead of anything we see now I’m guessing.
    Some awesome stuff !!

  • @MisteriosGloriosos922
    @MisteriosGloriosos922 2 года назад

    *wonderful!!. Love this video!!!*

  • @shanemichaels3083
    @shanemichaels3083 3 года назад +4

    imagine flying one of these things, would be unreal

  • @msb3235
    @msb3235 7 лет назад +58

    1960s is the most awesome time of engineering marvel!

    • @MyGeorg13
      @MyGeorg13 6 лет назад

      if you would have knowledge of engineering, you would say that today is the most awsome time of engineering as technology progresses exponentially
      accelerating development by development

    • @mrhoffame
      @mrhoffame 6 лет назад

      Very true. It always makes me think that so much technology we have today, in the public eye, carries a lot of it's orgins frm 60s technology. I can only imagine what they are working on today in secret that will be the technology our kids finally see in 2060.

    • @Tempusverum
      @Tempusverum 6 лет назад +1

      German tech mostly contributed to the Apollo rocket prog. The X plane was an American design, built by Reaction Motors.

    • @philgiglio9656
      @philgiglio9656 6 лет назад

      We dared to dream BIG. Not anymore.

    • @philgiglio9656
      @philgiglio9656 6 лет назад

      Most of it courtesy NASA.

  • @sirvapalot
    @sirvapalot 3 года назад +1

    imagine landing that thing every sprinter in your body would be clenching, you wouldn't think that a plane shaped like that would glide without thrust, kudos to engineering of the day.

  • @raymond7880
    @raymond7880 3 года назад +1

    In the early days Discovery showed more of this stuff than it does now.

  • @paxwallacejazz
    @paxwallacejazz 6 лет назад +6

    Not really a plane not exactly a spacecraft but when I was in kindergarden watching the Gemini space walks I knew it's name and wished I could fly it .

    • @BESTMOAD
      @BESTMOAD 3 года назад

      Bible? You never did wishes get SMAAASHED LIKE A COTROACH UNDER MY HEELS

  • @randalltaylor3700
    @randalltaylor3700 3 года назад +4

    Scott Crossfield an acomplished engineer and pilot in his own right. Scotty's eyesight was made sensitive to bright light after he experienced the engine explosion accident, hence he had to wear dark sunglasses afterward

    • @x15galmichelleevans
      @x15galmichelleevans 5 месяцев назад

      Kelly Johnson had zero to do with the X-15 program.

  • @TheBeteljuice
    @TheBeteljuice 3 года назад +1

    The suit provides comfort and mobility?
    You bet!
    I know I wear mine around the house when I really want to relax!

  • @michaelperkins5369
    @michaelperkins5369 2 года назад +1

    You Know, I am proud to have been Involved with various Companies in the Bay Area while my Father and Mother-In-Law also worked for some 30 years.

  • @knightfox1461
    @knightfox1461 6 лет назад +3

    Back then they really did men's job more than they do now.

  • @johnjriggsarchery2457
    @johnjriggsarchery2457 7 лет назад +366

    From rag wing biplanes to this, in such a short time.

    • @user-zm1vt3rf9b
      @user-zm1vt3rf9b 6 лет назад +37

      Once science and discovery started there was no stopping it. That was when people had bigger plans ahead of them and were willing to try for them.

    • @braddywarbucks
      @braddywarbucks 6 лет назад +5

      Really it was the discovery on how to utilize the oceans of free energy that was sitting and waiting beneath our feet. Once we did that, the development of modern engines began allowing calorie intensive projects to exist. Every major project was possible because of the utilization of petroleum.

    • @dLoLe
      @dLoLe 6 лет назад +17

      stealing german scientists works wonders :)

    • @b.t.9531
      @b.t.9531 6 лет назад +31

      if by stealing you mean allowing them to continue work instead of being imprisoned after losing the war. also, the USA developed the nuke, their own jet engine, internal combustion engine and a myriad of other inventions before the end of WW2. Some of the scientists fled Germany before the war, this is true, but if you look down the list, they are from everywhere... which is exactly what America is:The melting pot and land of opportunity. Stealing scientists is fake history. They are lucky they weren't executed.

    • @fuzzywzhe
      @fuzzywzhe 6 лет назад +4

      Why is this so surprising? I went through a calculator taking 2 seconds to do a calculation, to being able to watch a video on the Internet. I can literally do nuclear bomb simulation on the desktop to my right, it's a super computer in terms of the 1990s. Cost $700 to build.
      Pity that it seems the next revolution is in the fierceness of the police state though. Sorry about that, when we made the Internet, this wasn't our intention, but you're all asleep so... **shrug**

  • @SingingPostman27
    @SingingPostman27 3 года назад

    Thank you for sharing.

  • @slome815
    @slome815 5 лет назад

    Note that all this footage shows the original X-15 with it's dual underpowered XLR-11 engines. The later record breaking versions would have a single, much more powerfull XLR-99 engine (something like three times the thrust compared to the two XLR-11's).

  • @digranni128
    @digranni128 7 лет назад +5

    I love u docs ✌

  • @no_name4796
    @no_name4796 3 года назад +6

    Imagine doing an emergency landing with such plane and such speed

  • @bruce92106
    @bruce92106 4 года назад +1

    I'm 61, from San Diego .CA, Point Loma. As a small kid I can remember when my Mom or my neighboring pal's mom's would take us kids to the SD Zoo driving along Harbor Dr. There was an old brown hanger along Harbor Dr that I swear had a X-15 that was kept inside it. And It was like a contest to see if one, or both, of the big double hanger doors might be open to get a glimpse of it sitting in there and who'd call it out first. Does ANYONE know of this story, or why an X-15 would have been kept in a hanger in San Diego, circa 62-64? If I recall, I think it was a General Dynamics hanger? On the south-west side of Harbor Dr across from Ryan Aeronautics. All are gone now. I know, it makes little sense, but I swear it happened. ??

  • @trob0914
    @trob0914 Год назад

    William " Pete" Knight, RIP SIR, October 3, 1967= MACH 6.7! That top speed still stands in 2022!!👍🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲

  • @GooseFlerken
    @GooseFlerken 7 лет назад +5

    Im still waiting for the mach 7 moment

  • @turbo2ltr
    @turbo2ltr 7 лет назад +164

    This video does not show any plane going Mach 7. Or even Mach 3. I would hardly consider it a "full documentary".

    • @HB-ps6rn
      @HB-ps6rn 7 лет назад +10

      It never says it shows any plane going Mach 7, just states the plane is capable of that theoretically. It's truly only done around 4500 mph though.

    • @mogwaigremlin7188
      @mogwaigremlin7188 7 лет назад +16

      Pah, I go faster than that having sex. I go at Mach 27.

    • @mickeyprime4375
      @mickeyprime4375 7 лет назад

      Mogwai Gremlin B

    • @phmwu7368
      @phmwu7368 5 лет назад +2

      It's about a single mission out of the 199 X-15 flights flown between June 1959 and October 1968... 50 years ago !

    • @fredd9340
      @fredd9340 5 лет назад

      @@phmwu7368 this version of the x-15 doesn't have the reaction motors engine so this was only capable of Mach 3

  • @theprophetez1357
    @theprophetez1357 3 года назад

    I liked the X-15 as a child and even had a model of it.

  • @christopherbernhardt
    @christopherbernhardt Год назад

    The cars that are towing the plane to the test site are first gen F150's. We were going Mach 7 when the F150 was a new design.

  • @BhagyanagarRE
    @BhagyanagarRE 4 года назад +3

    I want to thank USA and West for all modern technology and thank my Chinese brothers for making them available at cheap affordable prices - frm India

  • @erikliljeberg1796
    @erikliljeberg1796 5 лет назад +6

    It's technically more or less a spacecraft since the fastest actuall plane is the Sr-71

    • @almorris171
      @almorris171 5 лет назад +2

      The SR-71 was conventionally powered. The X-15 was rocket powered. Big difference.

    • @Galaxius2117
      @Galaxius2117 2 года назад

      SR-71 can do Mach 3
      X-15 can do Mach 6
      SR-71 is the second fastest plane
      X-15 is the fastest plane

  • @hams47
    @hams47 Год назад

    I don't think I've ever seen this before, but I had a VERY vivid dream of seeing one of these in a hanger last night so I had to look up "rocket plane" and found this

  • @hanz0619
    @hanz0619 2 года назад +1

    The camera man just broke the record

  • @seansteel3326
    @seansteel3326 6 лет назад +6

    I love it how back in the day when a failure occurred, a fix was found, a new plane was made and a new test ready in a matter of couple months. Now....