Warplanes of the USA: Bell X-2 Starbuster
Bell X-2 Starbuster
(NACA Photo)
The Bell X-2 (nicknamed "Starbuster") was an X-plane research aircraft built to investigate flight characteristics in the Mach 2–3 range. The X-2 was a rocket-powered, swept-wing research aircraft developed jointly in 1945 by Bell Aircraft Corporation, the United States Air Force and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to explore aerodynamic problems of supersonic flight and to expand the speed and altitude regimes obtained with the earlier X-1 series of research aircraft. (Wikipedia)
(NACA Photo)
Following the success of the X-1 series, the Bell X-2 was built to extend airspeed into the Mach 3 range and to develop fight controls for supersonic aircraft. The story of the X-2, while one of amazing progress, was made tragic by loss of life and the loss of both aircraft in separate mishaps.The first of two X-2 aircraft was delivered without an engine, as the rocket was not yet ready, in June of 1952. Several captive and un-powered flights were made prior to returning the aircraft to Bell for installation of the engine. During a captive flight the fueled X-2 exploded damaging the B-50 carrying it. Two of the B-50 crew members were killed in the accident, which saw the loss of the X-2 into the depths of Lake Ontario.After successful un-powered flights, X-2 pilot Iven Kincheloe became the first to pilot an aircraft above 100,000 feet altitude on 7 September 1956 when he reached a height of 126,200 feet. Twenty days later pilot Mel Apt, with instructions to maintain an "optimum maximum energy flight path" and to avoid rapid control movements, accelerated to a speed of Mach 3.196 (2,094 mph) and became the first man to exceed Mach 3.Unfortunately, shortly after attaining top speed, Apt attempted a banking turn while still above Mach 3. The X-2 tumbled out of control in an "inertial coupling" spin. The aircraft and pilot were lost and the X-2 program was terminated. (NMUSAF)
(NACA Photos)
Bell X-2 in flight.
(USAF Photo)
Boeing EB-50D Superfortress (Serial No. 49-096) with a Bell X-2.
(USAF Photo)
Bell X-2 being loaded aboard the Boeing B-50A Superfortress “mothership,” (Serial No. 46-011).
(USAF Photo)
Bell X-2 on ramp with a Boeing B-50 mothership and support crew.
(NACA Photo)
The Bell Aircraft Company X-2 (46-674) drops away from its Boeing B-50 mothership in this photo. Lt. Col. Frank "Pete" Everest piloted 674 on its first unpowered flight on August 5 1954. He made the first rocket-powered flight on November 18, 1955. Everest made the first supersonic X-2 flight in 674 on April 25, 1956, achieving a speed of Mach 1.40. In July, he reached Mach 2.87, just short of the Mach 3 goal.
(NACA Photo)
Bell X-2 No. 2 (Serial No. 46-675), 1 Jan 1952. The X-2 is mounted on a special transportation dolly at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The dolly was steerable and was used for transporting the X-2 around and for towing it off the lakebed at Edwards Air Force Base after a landing. This was the number 2 airplane (46-675), which was lost on 12 May 1953, on a captive flight over Lake Ontario when the airplane exploded during a liquid-oxygen topoff test, killing the pilot, Jean Ziegler, and EB-50A crewman Frank Wolko. Almost no debris was recovered from Lake Ontario, so no cause for the explosion could be determined. Later, however, investigations of similar explosions in the X-1 No. 3, X-1A, and X-1D traced the problem to Ulmer leather gaskets, which exuded tricresyl phosphate. This substance caused detonations in the supercold atmosphere of the airplanes' liquid oxygen tanks. As the X-2 No. 2 also had these gaskets, they were probably the cause of the explosion in that aircraft as well.
(NACA Photo)
This 1952 photograph shows the X-2 #2 (46-675) with a collapsed nose landing gear, after landing on the first glide flight at Edwards Air Force Base. The aircraft pitched at landing, slid along its main skid, and contacted the ground with the right wingtip bumper skid, causing it to break off. The nose wheel had collapsed upon contacting the ground. In the photo, Bell test pilot Jean Ziegler is still in the cockpit as ground crewmen stand by the aircraft. The X-2 #2 was subsequently destroyed in an explosion during captive flight on May 12, 1953, killing Ziegler and EB-50A crewmember Frank Wolko.
