The F-20 Tigershark program was abandoned in 1986 after three prototypes had been built (two of which crashed after their pilots blacked out due to excessive g-forces) and a fourth partially completed. The F-20 Tigershark (initially F-5G) was a privately...
Aerospace engineers went from the Wright Brothers’ first flight in 1903 to supersonic flight in just 43 years, thanks to two world wars and the accompanying advances in metallurgy, motors, and controls. During the subsequent 60 years, more than 120 different planes have flown faster than the speed of...
Captain Charles Yeager, center, of Hamlin, W.Va., the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound, receives the Gold Medal of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale at ceremonies, Sept. 6, 1949, Cleveland, Ohio. Right is William R. Enyart who made the presentation and with Yeager...
While NASA has had a long and storied history of building and testing experimental aircraft – called X-planes -- it has been almost a decade the space agency has developed any new aircraft. an initiative announced earlier this year as part of the new budget has NASA back designing, building...
The $247.5 million aircraft could revive supersonic flight for civilians NASA has announced plans to design and build an aircraft that can fly faster than the speed of sound with quiet, supersonic technology. The experimental plane, or X-plane, is called the Low-Boom Flight Demonstration (LBFD) and will be designed to reduce the...
Meet Andy Green, Who Broke The Sound Barrier In A Car And Plans To Go 1,000 MPH Later This Year As Andy Green prepares to hit 1,000 mph in his Bloodhound SSC jet/rocket car in South Africa later this year, we thought now would be a good time to reminisce...
(Reuters) - Chuck Yeager, the retired U.S. Air Force pilot who broke the sound barrier, has sued Airbus SE, accusing the aerospace company of using his name and likeness without permission to promote a new high-speed helicopter. In a complaint filed on Wednesday...
The space agency is celebrating 70 years of aircraft testing by releasing a trove of old videos showing X-planes, lunar landers, and various space shuttles. Aviation geeks rejoice: There’s a whole new way to waste time. NASA is marking 70 years of advanced aircraft testing by releasing a trove of old...
On October 14, 1947, a test pilot with the right stuff changed the future of aviation forever. The joke was on me. It was just after sunup on the morning of Oct. 14, 1947, and as I walked into the hangar at Muroc Army Air Base in the California high desert,...
Female American pilot Jackie Cochran made history on this day when in 1953 she became the first woman to break the sound barrier. American pilot Jackie Cochran, who became the first woman to break the sound barrier 65 years ago today, owes some of her breakthrough success in the sky...