Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket

The Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket was a swept-wing research aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company for the United States Navy to study flight at transonic and supersonic speeds. It was the second phase of a three-phase program and, unlike the straight-winged D-558-1 Skystreak, used a Westinghouse J34 turbojet for takeoff, climb and landing and a four-chamber Reaction Motors rocket engine for high speed. Three were built and flew 313 times between the first flight at Muroc on 4 February 1948 and the last flight of the program on 20 December 1956. On 20 November 1953 NACA pilot Scott Crossfield flew one to Mach 2.005, the first time an aircraft had exceeded twice the speed of sound. The data it gathered on pitch-up and swept-wing stability helped the designers of later fighters, and all three aircraft have been preserved.