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NASA SP-2011-4542 The Spoken Word II: · Recollections of Dryden History, Beyond the Sky edited by Curtis Peebles Monographs in Aerospace History Number 42 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The spoken word II: recollections of Dryden history : beyond the sky I edited by Curtis Peebles. p.cm. "NASA SP-2011-4542." 1. NASA Dryden Flight Research Center--History. 2. Astronautics--Research--California--Rogers Lake (Kern County)--History. 3. Oral history. 4. Aerospace engineers--United States--Interviews. 5. Astronauts-­ United States--Interviews. I. Peebles, Curtis. TL568.N23S66 2007 629.1072 '4--dc22 2007047436 ii Table of Contents Editor's Foreword·························································································································· v Prologue ....................................................................................................................................... vii Section 1: Into Space······················································································································ I Neil A. Armstrong······················································································································ 7 William P. Albrecht .................................................................................................................. 3 7 Clyde Bailey and Ralph Sparks ................................................................................................ 53 Section II: A Man on the Moon .................................................................................................... 59 Hubert M. Drake ....................................................................................................................... 63 Section III: The Lifting Bodies···································································································· 75 Walter W. Whiteside ................................................................................................................. 79 Jerry Reedy ............................................................................................................................... 97 William H. Dana ..................................................................................................................... 115 Section IV: Unexpected Futures································································································ 135 Melvin Burke .......................................................................................................................... 143 Fred Haise ............................................................................................................................... 173 Section V: Epilogue ................................................................................................................... 185 About the Author/Acknowledgements ....................................................................................... 188 NASA History Publications ....................................................................................................... 189 iii The Spoken Word II: Recollections of Dryden History, Beyond the Sky edited by Curtis Peebles Editor's Foreword Since the founding of the Dryden Flight Research Center History Office in 1996, its staff has conducted about a hundred interviews with retired employees. These recollections represent a unique resource in under­ standing the development ofaerospace technology in the second half of the twentieth century. Their personal experiences, insights, and opinions allow readers to gain an appreciation for what it was actually like to have been involved with some ofthe milestone events in aerospace history. A selection of interviews has been ed­ ited and assembled into this monograph to enable a wider audience to share in this adventure. This collection ofinterviews is the second in a continuing series on the history ofthe Dryden Flight Re­ search Center. The new volume covers the period between the establishment ofNASA in 1958 and the begin­ ning of space shuttle flights in the early 1980s. This time frame encompasses the flights ofthe X-15, the U.S./ Soviet race to the moon, the evolution ofthe lifting-body concept, and the initial shuttle flights. These events took place as jet propulsion and supersonic flight became everyday occurrences. They trans­ pired amidst the ongoing Cold War and the social, cultural, and technological upheavals ofthe 1960s, and advances in aerospace technology, such as digital fly-by-wire, of the 1970s. They are told by the people who participated in these landmark activities, in their own words. Curtis Peebles September 201 0 v Prologue The Approach Of The Future Aviation's future was already dimly visible when the first contingent ofNational Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) engineers arrived at Muroc Army Air Field in September of I946. They set up the Muroc Flight Test Unit in a wartime hangar at the field's South Base to support Army Air Forces flight tests of the X-1. By the spring of I947, the initial powered flights ofthe X-I were under way. The research plan, developed jointly by the Army Air Forces and the NACA, called for an incremental speed build-up until the aircraft exceeded Mach I. NACA personnel were responsible for the instrumentation on the two X-Is, reducing the data after the flight, and assisting the Army Air Forces with flight planning. Once the initial contractor and military test flights were completed, one of the X-Is would be transferred to the NACA so research flights could be undertaken. The work by the Army Air Forces and NACA personnel was part ofa continuing pattern in aircraft development. Since the first flights of the Wright brothers, the quest had been to fly farther, higher, and faster. Initially, that meant an airplane was able to make a complete circle around a large field. A decade later, World War I saw airplanes flying combat missions over the Western Front. By the I920s, both the U.S. and European nations had regular airmail service, while the first passenger airlines also were being established. The daring ofCharles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight, in May of I927, captured the imagination of the world. By the end of the I930s, international air travel was a reality. The world was suddenly smaller; a trip by airplane from the U.S. to Asia or Africa now took only about a week as compared to nearly a month by ship. The vertical dimension offlight also was changing. Advances in engines and aerodynamics allowed aircraft to reach altitudes too high for survival by unprotected humans. A pilot would have to, in effect, bring the ground along with him. This involved either a pressurized cockpit or a pressure suit to maintain an artificial environment. But it was the ever-faster aircraft speeds of the late I930s and mid-I940s that led to establishment of what would become the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. High-powered piston engines combined with highly refined/low-drag airframes meant that, in dives, aircraft could reach velocities near the speed of sound. vii Air flowing over wings and tail surfaces in these dives moved at "transonic" speeds, between Mach 0.8 and Mach 1.2, causing an increase in drag and the formation of shock waves. This rendered the controls useless and caused the aircraft to shake violently. Wind tunnel tests provided little help understanding these problems, as the transonic flow also rendered their data inaccurate. John Stack and other researchers at the NACA Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory at Hampton, Virginia, decided the only way to resolve the unknowns of supersonic flight would be to build a specialized research aircraft, equip it with instrumentation, and fly the aircraft at high speeds. From this concept emerged the Bell X -1 rocket-powered research aircraft. To reach speeds above Mach 1, a unique flight profile was used. The X -1 would not take off from the ground, but would instead be dropped from a B-29 in flight. The X-1 would use all of its fuel supply for the speed run or in a climb to high altitude. A rocket engine carries both its fuel and oxidizer so that, unlike a jet engine, it operates independently of the oxygen in the atmosphere. This meant that a rocket could operate at altitudes far too high for a jet engine, and even in space itself. Once the rocket engine exhausted its propellant, however, the X-1 would have to glide back to a landing. This eliminated the possibility of operating the aircraft from the NACA's Langley facility, where the risk of an unpowered landing by an experimental aircraft on a conventional runway was too great. The Muroc site had the advantage of the vast expanse of Rogers Dry Lake. This provided the perfect landing area, with runways marked on miles offlat, hard-packed surface. On October 14, 1947, the speed build-up culminated with Capt. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager making the first supersonic flight. This accomplishment took place against a rapidly changing international and technological background. In July of 1947, the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union had formally begun. The world was now divided between East and West, in a struggle that would last more than four decades. With the threat of Soviet Communism looming, U.S. technological superiority, particularly in aviation, was an imperative. While the X-1 had shown that supersonic flight was possible, a vast number of unknowns remained to be discovered and understood. In the process, aviation technology underwent a revolution.

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