Writestream Radio Network

From 1947 to 1968, a series of four rocket-powered research aircraft provided American aircraft designers with the information and test data to build everything from early jet fighters like the North American F-86 Sabre, to the incredible speed, altitude, and stealth of the Lockheed A-12/ SR-71 Blackbirds. These aircraft, the X-1, X-1A, X-2, and X-15, literally took American aircraft design through the sound barrier, to hypersonic regimes above Mach 5. In addition, these aircraft demonstrated new materials, aerodynamics, systems, and even rocket engines that could be throttled. And in the case of the X-15, actually took pilots above the atmosphere and into space. Of of these amazing aircraft, it was the X-15 which was arguably the most productive and successful of the X-planes, flying 199 times and setting records which would only be broken by the arrival of the Space Shuttles in the 1980s. Flown by some of the most talented pilots of their generation, some, including Neil Armstrong, would go on to fly for NA