"Douglas X-3 Stiletto"-1952

RARE COLOUR version of the original newsreel!

Looking much faster than she actually was, there were no powerplants around in 1952 that could push her up to the airplane's design speed, and was only able to achieve Mach 1 in a shallow dive.

Unlike most of the other "X-Planes" of the day, the X-3 took off under her own power, as opposed to being dropped from a "Mother Ship".

Although two were under construction, only the one prototype was ever completed, the second being used for spare parts.

Needless to say, she was a skidish aircraft to fly; requiring a 200 mph plus take-off & landing speed, and a 13,000 foot take-off roll!!

The airplane survived the test program, and is now on display at Wright-Pat. Got to see her there in 1974 at age 13, and what a magical moment that was!

Like the B-58 "Hustler", she's arguably the coolest looking jet aircraft ever built.

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[3ISAMAGICNUMBR]

It sort of reminds me of the spys from MAD magazine's spy vs spy.

[Indianmalujl]

Was made to test supersonic flights, but the engine that they made was too big to fit in to the airframe they made already so it end up being underpowered, but they did test the effect of inertial coupling with this aircraft and it sure did help gather data for future aircrafts.

[paullubliner]

WHO exactly was it who came up with the basic layout of the design of the F104, Kelly?

[Setebos]

Is it my imagination, or did a lot of X-planes have to deal with being underpowered?

And, as for cool looking planes, I'd nominate the Douglas F4D Skyray.

[unclechuck63]

I assembled a model of this when I was about 11 years old in the 50's. I still think that it was the most exotic thing to ever fly. Years later I learned that the tail was too small and the plane wanted to swap ends during supersonic flight! Still love the X-3 though. Hey they coulda fixed that! :-)

[JBofBrisbane]

Can almost hear Jeremy Clarkson yelling, "POWERRRRR..."

[vexviper]

Looks like the ship from Planet of the Apes but smaller.

[xxwzaebd]

The F86 was much better. And so was the Gloster Meteor.

[happosai27]

they should build more wierd experimental planes like this again ^^ the planes from the 50 and 60s are much cooler than most now a days

[21voyageur]

Way ahead of it's time from a design perspective. Maybe this is what triggered a young Burt Rutan.

[amateurphilosopher]

I remember assembling a plastic model of this plane when I was 8 or 9 years old. I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen, and couldn't understand why they weren't the US's front-line fighter. I figured that any plane that looked like this just HAD to be the hottest thing in the sky!

[gsmollin]

Yes, it was underpowered because the specified engines failed to develop and low powered engines were substituted. The X-3 also suffered from inertial roll coupling with the yaw axis, as any aircraft with its sleek aspect ratio would. Nobody was prepared for that, and it nearly crashed because of it. However, the X-3 taught us this lesson, so the X-15 and later jet-powered aircraft included stability augmentation systems to solve this problem. Take a look at the F-104 and compare their shapes.