Skip to content
Sploid

NASA unearths fascinating film of early experimental planes

By

Reading time 1 minute

Comments (0)

NASA’s Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center has unearthed original footage of experimental aircraft from as far back as the 1940s. It shows really cool views of airplanes, like the Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket and the X-15 space plane.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz31HRSICr8

At the time, the recently rechristened Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center was a facility controlled by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the predecessor to NASA. It was first known as the Muroc Flight Test Unit. Later, in 1949, people called High-Speed Flight Research Station and, in 1954, the High-Speed Flight Station. It was finally renamed the Hugh L. Dryden Aeronautical Test Range aka Dryden Flight Research Center aka Dryden, in honor of Hugh L. Dryden, space engineer and deputy director at NASA when he died in 1965.

Here’s a view of some of the airplanes of the fleet stationed there through the years:


SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

Explore more on these topics

Share this story

Sign up for our newsletters

Subscribe and interact with our community, get up to date with our customised Newsletters and much more.