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The Bell X-16 was a high altitude
''American X-Vehicles: An Inventory – X-1 to X-50''
(Monographs in Aerospace History No. 31: Centennial of Flight Edition). Washington, D.C.: NASA SP-2003-4531, June 2003. Retrieved: 26 July 2009. * Miller, Jay. ''Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works: The Official History''. Leicester, UK: Aerofax, an imprint of Midland Publishing, 1995 (revised edition). . * Polmar, Martin. ''Spyplane: The U-2 History''. St. Paul, Minnesota: Zenith Press, 2001. .
{{Authority control X-16, Bell X-16 Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United States Twinjets Shoulder-wing aircraft Unflown aircraft Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear
aerial reconnaissance
Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance for a military or Strategy, strategic purpose that is conducted using reconnaissance aircraft. The role of reconnaissance can fulfil a variety of requirements including Artillery observer, artillery spott ...
jet aircraft
A jet aircraft (or simply jet) is an aircraft (nearly always a fixed-wing aircraft) propelled by one or more jet engines.
Whereas the engines in Propeller (aircraft), propeller-powered aircraft generally achieve their maximum efficiency at much ...
designed in the United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
in the 1950s. The designation of X-16 was a cover to try to hide the true nature of the aircraft mission from the Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
during the Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
.Jenkins et al. 2003, p. 23.
Development
During the second half of 1953,Fairchild Fairchild may refer to:
Organizations
* Fairchild Aerial Surveys, operated in cooperation with a subsidiary of Fairey Aviation Company
* Fairchild Camera and Instrument
* List of Sherman Fairchild companies, "Fairchild" companies
* Fairchild ...
, Bell, and Martin Aircraft
The Glenn L. Martin Company, also known as The Martin Company from 1917 to 1961, was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company founded by aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin. The Martin Company produced many important aircraft for ...
conducted high altitude reconnaissance aircraft design studies for the United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
under project MX-2147.Polmar 2001, p. 26. All three designs used Pratt & Whitney J57
The Pratt & Whitney J57 (company designation: JT3C) is an axial-flow turbojet engine developed by Pratt & Whitney in the early 1950s. The J57 (first run January 1950) was the first 10,000 lbf (45 kN) thrust class engine in the United State ...
-19 turbojets. The Bell and Martin (B-57D) designs were chosen for further development. The Bell Model 67 design was designated the X-16. A full-scale mock-up was completed and one aircraft was partially completed. It was designed as a high altitude long-range reconnaissance aircraft.Miller, Jay (2001). The X-Planes: X-1 to X-45 (third ed.). Motorbooks International. .
The X-16 design was breaking new ground with its design. Its wingspan was long () with a high (11.9) aspect ratio
The aspect ratio of a geometry, geometric shape is the ratio of its sizes in different dimensions. For example, the aspect ratio of a rectangle is the ratio of its longer side to its shorter side—the ratio of width to height, when the rectangl ...
. The structure was significantly lighter and more flexible than usual for jet aircraft wings. The entire aircraft was made as light as possible to achieve its intended 3,000-mile unrefueled range at .
A total of 28 aircraft were ordered, but none were completed. The first X-16 was about 80 percent complete when the program was cancelled by the Air Force in favor of the Martin RB-57 in 1956. Although no X-16 was ever completed, it made contributions to aircraft design with its lightweight design. It was also a driving force behind the development of the high-altitude versions of the J57 that would later power the Lockheed U-2
The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed the "''Dragon Lady''", is an American single-engine, high–altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) since the 1950s. Designed for all- ...
and other aircraft.
Specifications (X-16, as designed)
See also
References
;Notes ;Bibliography * Jenkins, Dennis R., Tony Landis and Jay Miller''American X-Vehicles: An Inventory – X-1 to X-50''
(Monographs in Aerospace History No. 31: Centennial of Flight Edition). Washington, D.C.: NASA SP-2003-4531, June 2003. Retrieved: 26 July 2009. * Miller, Jay. ''Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works: The Official History''. Leicester, UK: Aerofax, an imprint of Midland Publishing, 1995 (revised edition). . * Polmar, Martin. ''Spyplane: The U-2 History''. St. Paul, Minnesota: Zenith Press, 2001. .
External links
{{Authority control X-16, Bell X-16 Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United States Twinjets Shoulder-wing aircraft Unflown aircraft Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear