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 Dryden Home > Collections > Photo Home > P-51D Mustang > Photo # E55-2078 |
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P-51D Mustang on Lakebed | |
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| Photo Number: | E55-2078 | |
| Photo Date: | November 2, 1955 | |
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| Formats: | 558x480 JPEG Image (39 KBytes) 1191x1024 JPEG Image (243 KBytes) 2000x1720 JPEG Image (350 KBytes) |
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| Photo Description: |
This photograph shows a NACA research pilot running up the engine of the F-51D Mustang on the taxiway adjacent to Rogers Dry Lake at the NACA High-Speed Flight Station in 1955. A P-51D Mustang, redesignated an F-51 Mustang, was transferred from the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory to the NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station (now the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center) at Edwards Air Force Base in California, in 1950. The P-51D Mustang was the first aircraft to employ the NACA laminar-flow airfoil design and could dive to around Mach number 0.8. As an F-51, it was used as a proficiency aircraft at the High Speed Flight Station. | |
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| Project Description: |
A North American P-51D Mustang (the P meaning pursuit), redesignated as an F-51 Mustang (with the F standing for fighter), was transferred to the NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station (HSFRS), Edwards, California, from the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, Hampton, Virginia, in 1950. This aircraft had been used in wing-flow research at Langley prior to its transfer.
The NACA was the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, a predecessor of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The HSFRS was a predecessor of NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, and Langley Aeronautical Laboratory became NASA’s Langley Research Center. The P-51D was the first aircraft to employ the NACA laminar-flow airfoil design and could dive to a speed of roughly Mach 0.8. As an F-51 Fighter, instead of a P-51D pursuit aircraft, the aircraft was used as a proficiency aircraft at HSFRS. Records show that the aircraft was also used as a chase and support aircraft 395 times. Neil Armstrong was among the pilots using it to chase some of the X-planes (that is, provide safety support). The P-51D was retired in 1959 as the result of a taxiing mishap. |
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| NASA Photo by: | NACA/NASA | |
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| Keywords: | P-51D Mustang; F-51 Mustang; North American Aircraft Company; NACA; National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics; Langley Aeronautical Laboratory; Langley Research Center; NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station; Dryden Fight Research Center. | |
| Dryden Home > Collections > Photo Home > P-51D Mustang > Photo # E55-2078 |
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