North American Aviation built 3 of the X-15 rocket powered research aircraft, serial #s 66670, 66671 and 66672. The 31st flight of an X-15 was on November 9, 1962, and utilized the #2 airframe. The throttle stuck at 35% thrust and the pilot, Jack McKay, made a harder than usual touch down, causing the left main skid to collapse, causing the plane to flip over and it was severely damaged. A decision was made to rebuild the plane with the addition of a 29 inch plug in the center of the fuselage, as well as to add the capability to carry external fuel tanks. The canopy windows were changed from the original rectangular shape to an oval shape. An eyelid or shutter was added to the port window so it could be covered in flight to avoid damage when external ablative coating seared off during the hottest part of the flight. Several other small airframe changes were made as well.
This version of the plane set the maximum speed record of Mach 6.70 or 4,520 mph on October 3, 1967. That is 6,629 feet or 1.25 miles every second.
My model is 1/72 scale and is made from the Monogram kit. It is painted with Model Master enamel paint and uses the kit decals. The external tanks had several different paint schemes at different times, including several with a bunch of Day-Glo Orange. I took the easy way out and used the two tone silver. Someday I would like to build the NB-52 Mothership to go with this model. [alien]
