SPACEPHOTOS

The Bell Aircraft Corporation X-1-2 parked on the ramp at NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station with the crew in 1949. Left to right: Edwin R. Edwards; Bud Rogers; Richard E. Payne, Crew Chief; and Henry ''Kenny'' Gaskins. The NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station was located on the southern portion of Edwards Air Force Base at the edge of the Rogers Dry Lake in the Mojave Desert. The Mojave Desert, known for its blazing summer temperatures and normally clear skies, provided an ideal environment for pilots and engineers to test the research aircraft in flight. The airplane's crew members (mechanics) were an important part of this team. This photograph of them attests to the ''blazing summer temperatures.'' The Bell X-1-2 was equipped with a 10-percent wing and an 8-percent tail (measured as the thickness divided by the chord of the airfoil), powered by an XLR-11 rocket engine, and air-launched from beneath a B-29A (45-21800). The aircraft investigated the transonic flight regime (Mach 0.7 to Mach 1.3).