I am currently reading the X-15 Diary, interesting writing style, but a good book.

https://www.amazon.com/X-15-Diary-Story ... g=btalk-20

Thanks for posting Doug. very cool article!
I was fascinated by the X-15 when I was a kid.

The article says that the X-15 flew as high as 107 Kilometers (351,050 Feet!) Anyone know how high the SR-71 made it up to?

After hearing Scott Crossfield speak at Oshkosh (back in the Wright Flyer centennial days), I read his autobiography - lots of great stories about the X-15 program. Nobody was more involved with the X-15 program than Scott.

His book is 99 cents at Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H3 ... g=btalk-20


I'm also a fan of this story about Neil Armstrong's flight in which he "skipped off the atmosphere" and barely made it back to Edwards.

https://www.sierrafoot.org/x-15/adventu ... ht_51.html

I have read a few mentions of 83,000 feet.

Dang it... I already bought the Haynes Manual for the Sopwith Camel earlier this year... now you guys are tempting me to make another impulse purchase.

BeechTalk is such a bad influence!

Officially, I believe the number was 85k. Unofficially...I was fortunate to befriend two different SR-71 drivers in the course of my business, neither of whom were ambiguous when they stated 100k+ was achieved by practically everyone who piloted it.

Officially, I believe the number was 85k. Unofficially...I was fortunate to befriend two different SR-71 drivers in the course of my business, neither of whom were ambiguous when they stated 100k+ was achieved by practically everyone who piloted it.

There is a story about Neil Armstrong flying out to one of the remote dry lakes to see if it was dry enough to use as an emergency runway for the X15. If I got it right, he attempted to land and realized it was not dry enough to he went around, raising the gear a little early. There are pictures of is tire track coming together as the gear retracted and the plane started to settle. He did make it off ok.

Vince

The way Chuck Yeager tells that story in his book, Yeager had been up there hunting and told Armstrong the lakebed wasn't hard enough yet but Armstrong said he'd go see for himself and Yeager went along in the back seat of the T-38. Against Yeager's advice, Armstrong went in for a touch-n-go but as soon as the wheels touched the soft mud it bogged down, wouldn't taxi fast enough to take off. They radioed for help, shut it down and waited for rescue in silence.

At the edge of space by Milt Thompson (one of the X-15 pilots) is also very good.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DFIDW9K/re ... TF8&btkr=1

Alas the follow-on book "Flying without wings'' about the lifting body program was finished after his death and not near as readable.

The way Chuck Yeager tells that story in his book, Yeager had been up there hunting and told Armstrong the lakebed wasn't hard enough yet but Armstrong said he'd go see for himself and Yeager went along in the back seat of the T-38. Against Yeager's advice, Armstrong went in for a touch-n-go but as soon as the wheels touched the soft mud it bogged down, wouldn't taxi fast enough to take off. They radioed for help, shut it down and waited for rescue in silence.[/quote]

That was another incident. This is the one I was referring to:
"On May 21, 1962, Armstrong was involved in the "Nellis Affair". He was sent in an F-104 to inspect Delamar Dry Lake in southern Nevada, again for emergency landings. He misjudged his altitude, and did not realize that the landing gear had not fully extended. As he touched down, the landing gear began to retract; Armstrong applied full power to abort the landing, but the ventral fin and landing gear door struck the ground, damaging the radio and releasing hydraulic fluid. Without radio communication, Armstrong flew south to Nellis Air Force Base, past the control tower, and waggled his wings, the signal for a no-radio approach. The loss of hydraulic fluid caused the tailhook to release, and upon landing, he caught the arresting wire attached to an anchor chain, and dragged the chain along the runway."

Vince

I read the Armstrong book last year, and I think he got stranded more than those two times. I remember reading it and thinking how comical it was that the guy who would eventually be the first to land on the moon was developing a reputation for getting jets stuck in the mud.

Imagine the beating he would take here on CT. Clearly not a "real" pilot.

I have always been a fan of Chuck Yeager, read all the books. So twenty years later I am looking at buying a Citation out in damn no where Oregon and I open the front baggage door to find this....... I think I’ll take it.

Gary