Wingless Flight tells the story of the most unusual flying machines ever flown, the lifting bodies. It is my story about my friends and colleagues who committed a significant part of their lives in the 1960s and 1970s to prove that the concept was a viable one for use in spacecraft of the future. This story, filled with drama and adventure, is about the twelve-year period from 1963 to 1975 in which eight different lifting-body configurations flew. It is appropriate for me to write the story, since I was the engineer who first presented the idea of flight-testing the concept to others at the NASA Flight Research Center. Over those twelve years, I experienced the story as it unfolded day by day at that remote NASA facility northeast of Los Angeles in the bleak Mojave Desert. Benefits from this effort immediately influenced the design and operational concepts of the winged NASA Shuttle Orbiter. However, the full benefits would not be realized until the 1990s when new spacecraft such as the X-33 and X-38 would fully employ the lifting-body concept. A lifting body is basically a wingless vehicle that flies due to the lift generated by the shape of its fuselage. Although both a lifting reentry vehicle and a ballistic capsule had been considered as options during the early stages of NASA's space program, NASA initially opted to go with the capsule. A number of individuals were not content to close the book on the lifting-body concept. Researchers including Alfred Eggers at the NASA Ames Research Center conducted early wind-tunnel experiments, finding that half of a rounded nose-cone shape that was flat on top and rounded on the bottom could generate a lift-to-drag ratio of about 1.5 to 1. Eggers' preliminary design sketch later resembled the basic M2 lifting-body design. At the NASA Langley Research Center, other researchers toyed with their own lifting-body shapes.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
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"Presents an in-depth account of the entire NASA/Air Force lifting-body program written by the engineer who intiated it." -- Aviation History
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Dale Reed retired from NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in 1985 but still works with NASA as a contract engineer. He has authored numerous articles and technical reports, managed nineteen NASA programs, and acquired four patents.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Definitive Volume on the Subject!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Wingless Flight : The Lifting Body Story (Nasa Sp, 4220) (Hardcover)
I've studied these vehicles for years and thought I knew a lot about them. But Dale Reed was there and does a masterful job of melding the history time line with the results of the program. There are probably only a handful of people who could have written this book which is as rich in detail and "colorful" stories as any reader could want. If you've read the story of the X-15, this is the next logical step. If you haven't, you need to to really grasp what was going on at Edwards during this time. Fascinating!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The definitive history of NASA lifting bodies to date.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Wingless Flight : The Lifting Body Story (Nasa Sp, 4220) (Hardcover)
A well written book from the engineer that was at the center of this small group of specialized aerospace vehicles. While detailed and somewhat technical, the author still manages to convey the sense of personal excitement, accomplishment and, at times, frustration experienced by everyone supporting these vehicles. A must-read for anyone interested in these vehicles.
5.0 out of 5 stars
I was there!,
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This review is from: Wingless Flight: The Lifting Body Story (NASA History Series SP-4220) (Paperback)
I cannot underestimate the value of this book and the rich history it tells us of the childhood of our shuttle program. This extraordinary tableau of how we got where we are is exciting and, best of all, true! In 1969 I was working for the Army on the Edwards AFB flightline when 9 of my co-workers and I were invited to the roof of the hangar "to watch the future." Dropped from a B-52 high above the Mojave desert, a gray, non-descript glider floated through the California sky and landed quietly in front of our hangar...just a few hangars away from NASA's. The Army commander of our facility said to us, "You can tell no one you saw it and you cannot discuss it amongst yourselves for a long, long time, but you are looking at the prototype of the vehicle that will take us into space." It was a memory of significant proportion and one I will never forget. It started my love of our shuttle program and 100% support of NASA. It is a must-read and then put it on the shelf with your most precious books. If you didn't love the space program before, you will fall in love now, especially with the ending of the program. What an experience; what a book! P.S. Be sure to get the DVD of BluRay set from NASA "When We Left Earth", too. It's the perfect companion for Wingless Flight. Both are GREAT for the whole family.
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First Sentence:
My Journey in February 1953 to the NACA High Speed Flight Research Station (as the Muroc Flight Test Unit had come to be called in 1949) actually began about a decade earlier in two smalI mountain towns in Idaho, about as far from the center of aerospace innovation as one can get. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
interconnect ratio, other lifting bodies, subsonic configuration, powered lifting bodies, deployable wings, first glide flight, lakebed runway, outer elevons, lifting reentry, ground cockpit, spacecraft recovery, flying bathtub, gliding parachute, lifting body, wingless flight, glide flights, first supersonic flight, captive flights, horizontal landing, dihedral effect, center fin, stability augmentation system, analytical team, roll control, body flap Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Air Force, Flight Research Center, Milt Thompson, Paul Bikle, Gooney Bird, Jerry Gentry, Bruce Peterson, Johnson Space Center, Bill Dana, John Manke, Dick Eldredge, Bertha Ryan, Ken Iliff, Dale Reed, Rogers Dry Lake, Wen Painter, Bob Kempel, Harriet Smith, Vic Horton, Bob Hoey, Larry Taylor, Chuck Yeager, World War, Skunk Works, Ames Research Center New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
My Journey in February 1953 to the NACA High Speed Flight Research Station (as the Muroc Flight Test Unit had come to be called in 1949) actually began about a decade earlier in two smalI mountain towns in Idaho, about as far from the center of aerospace innovation as one can get. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
interconnect ratio, other lifting bodies, subsonic configuration, powered lifting bodies, deployable wings, first glide flight, lakebed runway, outer elevons, lifting reentry, ground cockpit, spacecraft recovery, flying bathtub, gliding parachute, lifting body, wingless flight, glide flights, first supersonic flight, captive flights, horizontal landing, dihedral effect, center fin, stability augmentation system, analytical team, roll control, body flap Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Air Force, Flight Research Center, Milt Thompson, Paul Bikle, Gooney Bird, Jerry Gentry, Bruce Peterson, Johnson Space Center, Bill Dana, John Manke, Dick Eldredge, Bertha Ryan, Ken Iliff, Dale Reed, Rogers Dry Lake, Wen Painter, Bob Kempel, Harriet Smith, Vic Horton, Bob Hoey, Larry Taylor, Chuck Yeager, World War, Skunk Works, Ames Research Center New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 5
books:
2
books
cite this book:
- On the Frontier: Experimental Flight at NASA Dryden by Richard P. Hallion on 18 pages
- The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe on page 48, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Spaceflight and Rocketry: A Chronology by David Baker on page 66, and Back Matter
- On the Frontier by Walker on page 4
- Space Shuttle by Crown in Back Matter
- Airplane Stability and Control: A History of the Technologies that Made Aviation Possible (Cambridge Aerospace Series) by Malcolm J. Abzug in Back Matter
- Disasters and Accidents in Manned Spaceflight by David J. Shayler in Back Matter
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