ARMED FORCES: Old Pro Under Power

O.K., Scott. Looks all right. Let’s try. . . Launch light on . . . O.K., here we go with the countdown . . . Three . . . Two . . . One . . .

The B-52 pilot pressed a button. From its nest under the bomber’s right wing, the long, black, needle-nosed X-15 dropped free at 38,000 ft. In its instrument-crammed cockpit at that instant, Test Pilot Scott Crossfield started his rocket engines and flashed ahead on the first powered flight of the experimental plane that is designed to take man to the edge of space.

High over the sand-incrusted wasteland of California’s Mojave Desert, the X-15 soared, trailed by three Air Force F-100 and F-104 chase planes. As he climbed under full power, Crossfield’s deep, even voice cut the air:

Heading uphill at 33,000 feet.

Roger.

Looks good across the board [i.e., instrument readings O.K.].

Roj.

Mach Number One [about 640 knots] and climbing through 35 [35,000 ft.].

Roj.

Up, up he flew, checking the X-15’s behavior constantly with the control tower, the B-52 and his chase pilots (one of whom, Air Force Major Robert White, will probably be selected to make the first X-15 test flight in space). When he leveled off at 50,000 ft., Pilot Crossfield called :

There’s a little buffet or sound. I don’t know what it is.

Moments later:

The noise I get is my head touching and getting these vibrations through the windshield.

After three minutes of power, the X-15’s fuel burned out. The plane had exceeded a speed of 1,200 knots. Crossfield’s, voice tightened and his breathing came labored on the air as he maneuvered through a 3-g turn. Then he flew through a big triangle, settled into a long glide toward his landing field at Rogers Dry Lake on Edwards Air Force Base. Hovering close behind him, Chase Pilot Bob White called:

Nice and easy, Daddy. You’re showing two-ten [210 knots]. Very fine . . . very good . . . very good . . . Real nice.

Responded Crossfield nonchalantly, as he touched the runway on his skid gear:

I’m an old pro, Daddy-O.

Explained Old Pro (37) Crossfield later: the flight was simply a test of the X-15’s systems. “We didn’t try to get any performance out of it—although it performed slightly better than expected.” Ahead: still more tests under power, and, perhaps next year, the first trip of the X-15 into black space.