X-plane (aircraft)

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This article is about experimental aircraft. For similarly named items, see Xplane.

The X-planes are a series of experimental United States aircraft (and some rockets) used for testing of new technologies and usually kept highly secret during development.

The first of these, the Bell X-1, became well-known as the first plane to break the sound barrier, which it did in 1947. Later X-planes yielded important research results, but only the North American X-15 rocket plane of the early 1960s achieved comparable fame. X-planes 7 through 12 were actually missiles, and some other vehicles were unpiloted. Most X-planes are not expected to ever go into full-scale production, and usually only a few are produced. One exception is the Lockheed Martin X-35, which competed against the Boeing X-32 to become the Joint Strike Fighter.

As of 2006, new X-plane projects are still underway. The designation X-52 was skipped to avoid potential confusion with the operational B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber.

[edit] In fiction

Many movies, television series and video games have featured fictional X planes, with both feasible and currently infeasible designs. For instance, the Stargate TV series feature X-301, X-302, X-303, and X-304 spacecraft. The movie Armageddon featured two top-secret space shuttles called the X-71. The film Rocketship X-M was inspired by the X-series, featuring the first manned rocket to the moon.

[edit] See also

• Experimental aircraft
• List of experimental aircraft
• List of military aircraft of the United States
• Skunk works

[edit] Reference

• Jay Miller, The X-Planes: X-1 to X-45 (Motorbooks International, 2001)

[edit] External links

• Early X-planes
• American X-Vehicles: An Inventory X-1 to X-50, SP-2000-4531 - June 2003; NASA online PDF Monograph
• X-15 Videos by NASA