#skystreak

[wb-hollowstorm]

@mommyclan and @laiphena you bring up a good point

[phileartfrog]

final attacks for this year!

my dear @vodka-and-ocs‘ magical font girls Ouroboros and Mirage, and @ultrainfinitepit‘s oc Skystreak!

[voodoo1blog]

Solid aluminum Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak.

[bonusdragons]

The bonuses for April 16, 2016 are:

Tangerine Tertiary, Guardian, Daub Gene.

This is Rutile of Skystreak’s clan!

[projecthabu]

     Most aviation enthusiasts are aware of the Bell X-1 as the first aircraft to reach Mach 1 in straight and level flight. Not as many are aware of the Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak.

     This Skystreak, #37970, the first of three ever made, first took to the air on April 14, 1947. She was designed by Douglas for the US Navy and the NACA for transonic and supersonight flight research. Because the effects of flying through the sonic barrier were widely unknown, the structure of the aircraft was designed to withstand forces of up to 18 Gs. In case of emergency, the entire forward fuselage, including the pilot, could be jettisoned from the aft body of the aircraft, then the pilot could bail out of the nosecone once it reached slower speeds. She was powered by an Allison J-35-A-11 engine, the first American axial flow turbojet (shown in the final photo).

     Pilot Turner Caldwell set a world speed record with 37970, of 640.744 mph on August 20, 1947. The Skystreak was almost able to push through the sonic barrier, reaching speeds of Mach .99 in straight and level flight. When folks mentioned the race to surpass the speed of sound, people would often talk about the Skystreak and the X-1 hand-in-hand, but public interest in our Skystreak waned after news spread of Chuck Yager's record setting Mach 1 flight in the X-1 in October of that year. Eventually, the Skystreak would reach supersonic speeds in a dive, but never matched the performance abilities of the X-1, which first broke the sound barrier in straight and level flight. That being said, the Skystreak was an air breathing jet aircraft which took off under its own power. The X-1 was a rocket plane, and had to be carried aloft by a B-52. 

     This bird came extremely close to being the first supersonic aircraft. If that had happened, the Bell X-1 would have been another obscure design lost to history, and the Skystreak would be hanging in the Milestones of Flight Hall in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Instead, she graces the halls of the National Naval Air Museum in Pensacola, Florida.