Douglas Skyrocket

The Douglas Skyrocket (the D-558-2; also found, D-558-II) was a rocket-powered research aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company for the U.S. Navy. With Scott Crossfield at the controls, the D-558-2 became the first airplane to fly twice the speed of sound.

Development

The Douglas D-558-2 "Skyrockets" were among the early transonic research airplanes like the X-1, X-4, X-5, and XF-92. Three of the single-seat, swept-wing aircraft flew from 1948 to 1956 in a joint program involving the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), with its flight research done at the NACA's Muroc Flight Test Unit in California, redesignated in 1949 the High-Speed Flight Research Station (HSFRS); the Navy-Marine Corps; and the Douglas Aircraft Co.

Related Topics:
X-1 - X-4 - X-5 - XF-92 - 1948 - 1956 - National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics - California - 1949 - Marine Corps

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The HSFRS became the High-Speed Flight Station in 1954 and is now known as the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. The Skyrocket made aviation history when it became the first airplane to fly twice the speed of sound.

Related Topics:
1954 - NASA - Dryden Flight Research Center

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On November 20, 1953, shortly before the 50th anniversary of powered flight, Scott Crossfield piloted the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket research aircraft to Mach 2 - twice the speed of sound, or more than 1,290 mph (2076 km/h).

Related Topics:
November 20 - 1953 - Scott Crossfield

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The '2' in the aircraft's designation referred to the fact that the Skyrocket was the phase-two version of what had originally been conceived as a three-phase program, with the phase-one aircraft having straight wings. The third phase, which never came to fruition, would have involved constructing a mock-up of a combat-type aircraft embodying the results from the testing of the phase one and two aircraft.

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