This month in Edwards History - February 2012

  • Published
  • By Dr. Stephanie Smith
  • AFFTC History Office
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  February 7, 1945 - Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation's XP-81 made its first flight here, piloted by Vultee test pilot Frank Davis. The XP-81 was designed to be a long-range fighter and attack plane powered by a J33 jet engine and a TG-100 turboprop in the nose. Because its GE turboprop engine was not available, the aircraft made its first flight with a conventional Packard-Merlin engine.

February 28, 1947 - Following 12 successful powered subsonic flights at Muroc, the Bell X-1 (No. 2 ship) was secured in the bomb bay of its B-29 launch aircraft and ferried back to the Bell plant in Niagara Falls, N.Y., for inspection and modifications. The research plane's airworthiness demonstration program would not resume until early April. At the time, the X-1 was known as the XS-1, for Experimental Supersonic; the name was not officially changed until June 1948.

February 28, 1951 - The first 50 units to be completed of the 550-building Wherry House project at Edwards AFB were assigned to senior enlisted personnel. Privately-owned by the Edwards Base Housing Corp., the homes were made available to base military and civilian personnel on an annual lease arrangement. The Wherry Housing tract was later re-designated Housing Area C, and later the Desert Villa housing area.

February 14, 1953 - The Bell test pilot Jean E. "Skip" Ziegler made the first glide flight of the Bell X 1A at Edwards AFB. This second-generation aircraft was designed with twice the performance potential of its predecessors, in order to investigate aerodynamic phenomena at altitudes above 90,000 feet and speeds beyond Mach 2.

February 18, 1962 - Major Walter F. Daniel established four time-to-climb official world records at Edwards AFB for Class C-1, Group 1 airplanes in a T-38: 3,000 meter (35.624 seconds); 6,000 meter (51.429 seconds); 9,000 meter (64.76 seconds); and 12,000 meter (95.74 seconds) categories. The records were certified by world air sports federation, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.

February 29, 1964 - President Lyndon Johnson made the first public announcement of the existence of an advanced experimental jet aircraft, the "A 11," capable of speeds above 2,000 mph and altitudes above 70,000 ft. He also stated that "several A-11 aircraft" were currently being tested at Edwards AFB. "A-11" referred to Lockheed's internal designation of its A-12 experimental reconnaissance aircraft. The president was referring to the YF 12A, an experimental fighter-interceptor version of the A-12.

February 27, 1970 - NASA test pilot William "Bill" Dana flew the rocket-powered Northrop HL 10 lifting body, built by NASA to evaluate the inverted airfoil and delta shape, to an altitude of 90,300 feet. This was the highest altitude reached in the HL 10 lifting body flight research program.

February 26, 1973 - The first Flight Test Engineer course began at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School. The FTE students took part in flying and reporting activities with the pilot students, but received additional specialized training in such areas as data acquisition, data processing, and instrumentation.

February 24, 1984 - The Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles E. Gabriel announced that the F 15 would become the Air Force's new dual-role fighter. During the competition, F 15Bs modified for the air-to-ground attack role won out over the F 16XL in the Enhanced Tactical Fighter competition at Edwards AFB. This led to production orders for 393 of the F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft.

February 7, 1988 - The Daedalus human-powered aircraft encountered turbulent air and crashed on Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards AFB. The unusual aircraft had a wingspan of 112 ft and weighed 70.2 pounds. A team of Olympic-class cyclists trained at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center for a long-range flight. Daedalus, like the Michelob Light Eagle, was a project of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

February 5, 1998 - The first F-22, (s/n 4001), arrived at the Air Force Flight Test Center in a C 5 Galaxy to begin flight testing.

February 24, 1999 - The X-34 technology demonstrator arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center for vibration and flight certification tests. The X 34, built by Orbital Sciences Corp., was an unmanned rocket powered vehicle designed to be launched from a modified jetliner, reach orbit, and land on a conventional runway.

February 4, 2011 - The Northrop Grumman X 47B Unmanned Air Combat System vehicle, under test for the U.S. Navy, made its first flight at Edwards AFB.