Description: This F5D-1 Skylancer fighter aircraft was manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company of Santa Monica, California, and dates from 1956-1960. The fuselage, wings and tail are painted white and orange. The nose is painted orange and features a black V-shaped design, with a protruding silver pilot tube. Each side of the aircraft features a black and white camera calibration decal (meant to help focus cameras that record test flights), and an arrow with text, "RESCUE," pointed down toward the nose. Neil Armstrong of Wapakoneta, Ohio, flew this aircraft as a NASA research pilot between September 1960 and September 1962. The Douglas Aircraft Company built four Skylancer aircraft, which were used during the Dyna-Soar research program, meant to simulate flight characteristics of a planned space vehicle. The Dyna-Soar program aimed to launch a winged aircraft able to enter the atmosphere and glide to a conventional landing following a mission in space, but was cancelled in December 1963. After the program ended, the aircraft remained at the NASA Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. In 1970, the aircraft was retired at Wright Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. On May 21, 1972, the aircraft was driven to the Armstrong Air & Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio, where it was placed on a concrete display pedestal. The aircraft remained on display as part of a long-term loan to the Ohio History Connection from the NASA Flight Research Center (renamed Armstrong Flight Research Center) until September 11, 2017, when it was removed for conservation. In Spring 2017, NASA AFRC transferred ownership of the aircraft to the Ohio History Connection. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: H100015
Subjects: Armstrong, Neil, 1930-2012; Aeronautics; Science and Technology; Aircraft; Air pilots; Space flight;
Places: Wapakoneta (Ohio); Auglaize County (Ohio); Santa Monica (California)