This title is a detailed, illustrated guide to the Douglas D-558, the
ground-breaking US Navy research aircraft which became the first
aircraft to break Mach 2, and paved the way for America's Cold War
"Century Series" fighters.
The six Douglas D-558 research aircraft, built as two variants, were
produced for a US Navy and NACA collaborative project to investigate
flight in the high subsonic and supersonic regimes and to develop means
of coping with the dangerous phenomena of compressibility and pitch-up
which had caused many accidents to early jets. Wind tunnels could not
provide the necessary data so pilots had to risk their safety in
experimental aircraft which, for their time, achieved phenomenal
performance.
Both series of D-558 were well-designed, strong and efficient aircraft
which enabled test pilots to tackle the unknown in comparative safety.
Though delayed by their innovative, troublesome power-plants and limited
by the cost of their air-launched sorties, they went well beyond their
original Mach 1 speed objective and continued to generate information
that provided design solutions for a whole generation of supersonic
combat aircraft. Although the final stage of the D-55 program, the USN's
"militarized" D-558-3, never happened, the Navy was able to apply the
lessons of the program to its much more practical combat types such as
the F8U Crusader and F3H Demon. Supported by full-color artwork
including three-view plates of the two D-558 models and a technical view
of the D-2 cockpit, this authoritative text offers a comprehensive guide
to the record-breaking Navy research craft.
