One of the true milestones of the first century of flight, and perhaps the most exotic plane to have ever flown, is North American's X-15 rocket plane.  The X-15 pioneered so many areas of high-speed flight that today, over 45 years after its rollout, the data gathered during the craft's 199 flights is still a gold mine for aircraft and spacecraft designers.  The X-15 also gave 8 pilots their Astronaut's Wings for flights that exceeded 50 miles altitude.  SpaceShip One, Burt Rutan's attempt to win the X-Prize for the first private spaceflight, is an attempt to reproduce the X-15 concept to make an affordable, reusable spacecraft.  This book is a magnificent telling of the story of what was, until the space shuttle's first mission, the fastest plane that ever flew.

 

This book is gorgeous.  The pages are printed on a beautiful glossy paper, and the production quality is absolutely first-rate throughout, with very crisp photo reproduction.  Aside from many colour photographs, there are also a number of colour profiles that illustrate changes in the markings and configurations of the three X-15s that were built; there are even two pages of colour profiles and illustrations that document the markings of the NB-52 carrier aircraft.  This book is an amzing modeling reference for anybody working on an X-15 model (I am soooo ready to build my 1/48 scale Special Hobby X-15A-2 now!). 

 

The text covers all aspects of this amazing program, from its inception in 1954 to the final flight on October 24, 1968.  Detailed descriptions of the competing designs from Bell, Douglas and Republic provide some interesting "what -ifs" that never reached the hardware stage.  Chapters are also devoted to the carrier and support aircraft involved with the program (including some fascinating images of the proposed B-36 carrier plane), a detailed technical description of aircraft construction and systems (including space suits and the ejection seat), the range at Edwards AFB, biographies of key personnel, the flight testing, and stillborn concepts (such as the delta-winged X-15 that could have been carried by either the North American XB-70A-1 Valkyrie or launched into orbit on top of a cluster of Titan boosters!).  Appendices include a complete flight log, biographies of key personnel, and a (lengthy) list of program accomplishments.

 

This book is clearly designed with the modeler in mind.  The photographs and text clearly and thoroughly document the evolution of both markings and configuration of the three X-15s over their 10 year career.  Detail photos of both the inside and outside of the X-15s and their NB-52 carrier planes will satisfy the appetites of the most AMS-afflicted modeler.

 

This book is obviously a labour of love and a fitting tribute to the people who worked on and flew one of the greatest airplanes of all time.  It serves as a powerful reminder of the incredible technological leaps that aviation made in the 1950s and 1960s, and of what the American aerospace industry is capable of.  Highly recommended to anybody with an interest in aviation - even if you don't like X-Planes, you will still love this book!