X-4 Bantam

X-4 Bantam
275px
X-4 Bantam
Type	Tailless aircraft prototype
Manufacturer	Northrop
Maiden flight	15 December 1948
Number built	2

The Northrop X-4 Bantam was a small twin-jet airplane that had no horizontal tail surfaces, depending instead on combined elevator and aileron control surfaces (elevons) for control in pitch and roll attitudes. The hope of some aerodynamicists was, by eliminating the horizontal tail, stability problems at transonic speeds resulting from the interaction of supersonic shock waves from the wings and the horizontal stabilizers would also disappear. This hope was unrealized.

Development

Two X-4s were built by the Northrop Corporation, but the first was found to be mechanically unsound and after 10 flights it was grounded and used to provide parts for the second.

While being tested from 1950 to 1953 at the NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station (now Edwards Air Force Base), the X-4's semi-tailless configuration exhibited inherent longitudinal stability problems (porpoising) as it approached the speed of sound. It was concluded (with the control technology available at the time) tailless craft were not suited for transonic flight.

In the 1940s, it was believed shock waves between the wing and stabilizers were the source of stability problems at transonic speeds, up to Mach 0.9. Two aircraft had already been built using a semi-tailless design—the rocket-powered Me-163 Komet flown by Germany in World War II, and the British de Havilland DH.108 Swallow built after the war. The United States Army Air Forces signed a contract with the Northrop on 11 June 1946 to build two X-4s. Northrop was selected because of its experience with flying wing designs, such as the N-9M, XB-35, and YB-49 aircraft.

The resulting aircraft was very compact, only large enough to hold two Westinghouse J30 jet engines, a pilot, instrumentation, and 45 minutes fuel. Nearly all maintenance work on the aircraft could be done without using a ladder or stool. A person standing on the ground could easily look into the cockpit. The aircraft also had split flaps, which doubled as speed brakes.

Operational history

File:Northrop X-4 onground colour.jpg

Preparing for flight

The first X-4 (serial number 46-676) was delivered to Muroc Air Force Base, California, in November 1948. It underwent taxi tests and made its first flight on 15 December 1948, with Northrop test pilot Charles Tucker at the controls. Winter rains flooded Rogers Dry Lake soon after, preventing additional X-4 flights until April 1949. The first X-4 proved mechanically unreliable, and made only 10 flights. Walt Williams, the head of the NACA Muroc Flight Test Unit (now Dryden Flight Research Center) called the aircraft a "lemon". The second X-4 (serial number 46-677) was delivered during the halt of flights, and soon proved far more reliable. It made a total of 20 contractor flights. Despite this, the program dragged on until February 1950, before both aircraft were turned over to the Air Force and the NACA. The first X-4 never flew again.

The NACA instrumented the second X-4 to conduct a short series of flights with Air Force pilots. These included Chuck Yeager, Pete Everest, Al Boyd, Richard Johnson, Fred Ascani, Arthur Murray, and Jack Ridley. The flights were made in August and September 1950. The first flight by a NACA pilot was made by John Griffith on 28 September.

The initial NACA X-4 flights, which continued from late 1950 through May of 1951, focused on the aircraft's sensitivity in pitch. NACA pilots Griffith and Scott Crossfield noted as speed approached Mach 0.88, the X-4 began a pitch oscillation of increasing severity, which was likened to driving on a washboard road. Increasing speeds also caused a tucking phenomena, in which the nose pitched down, a phenomenon also experienced by the Me 163A prototypes in 1941. More seriously, the aircraft also showed a tendency to "hunt" about all three axes. This combined yaw, pitch, and roll, which grew more severe as the speed increased, was a precursor to the inertial coupling, which would become a major challenge in the years to come.

To correct the poor stability, project engineers decided to increase the flap/speed brake trailing edge thickness. Balsa wood strips were added between the flap/speed brake halves, causing them to remain open at a 5 degree angle. The first test of the blunt trailing edge was flown 20 August 1951 by NACA pilot Walter Jones. A second test was made by Crossfield in October. The results were positive, with Jones commenting the X-4's flight qualities had been greatly improved, and the aircraft did not have pitch control problems up to a speed of Mach 0.92.

The balsa strips were removed, and the X-4 then undertook a long series of flights to test landing characteristics. By opening the speed brakes, the lift-to-drag ratio of the aircraft could be reduced to less than 3 to 1. This was for data on future rocket powered aircraft. The tests continued through October 1951, until wing tank fuel leaks forced the aircraft to be grounded until March 1952, when the landing tests resumed. NACA pilots Joe Walker, Stanley Butchard, and George Cooper were also checked out in the aircraft.

The thickened flap/speed brake tests had been encouraging, so balsa wood strips were reinstalled on both the flap/speed brake and the elevons. The first flight was made by Jones on 19 May 1952, but one of the engines was damaged during the flight, and it was August before a replacement J30 could be found. When the flights resumed, they showed the modifications had improved stability in both pitch and yaw, and delayed the nosedown trim changes from Mach 0.74 to Mach 0.91. Above Mach 0.91, however, the X-4 still oscillated.

In May 1953, the balsa wood strips were again removed, and the X-4's dynamic stability was studied in the original flap/speed brake and elevon configuration. These flights were made by Crossfield and John B. McKay. This was the final project for the X-4, which made its 81st and final NACA flight on 29 September. Both aircraft survived the test program. The first X-4 was transferred to the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado, before being returned to Edwards Air Force Base. The second went to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, where it remains on display.

The X-4's primary importance involved proving a negative, in that a swept-wing semi-tailless design was not suitable for speeds near Mach 1, although the F7U Cutlass proved something of a counterexample—the developed version was the first aircraft to demonstrate stores separation above Mach 1. Aircraft designers were thus able to avoid this dead end. It was not until the development of computer fly-by-wire systems such designs could be practical. Semi-tailless designs appeared on the X-36, Have Blue, F-117, and Bird of Prey, although these aircraft all differed significantly in shape from the X-4. The trend during its test program was already toward delta and modified delta aircraft such as the F4D, the F-102A (derived from the XF-92A, and the Vulcan.

Specifications (X-4)

300px

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 22 ft 3 in (7.1 m)
• Wingspan: 26 ft 10 in (8.2 m)
• Height: 14 ft 10 in (4.5 m)
• Wing area: ft² (m²)
• Empty weight: 5,600 lb (2,540 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 7,820 lb (3,550 kg)
• Powerplant: 2× Westinghouse J30 turbojet, 1,600 lbf (7.1 kN) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 640 mph (1,035 km/h)
• Range: miles (km)
• Service ceiling: 44,000 ft (13,400 m)
• Rate of climb: ft/min (m/s)
• Wing loading: lb/ft² (kg/m²)

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

X-4 Bantam

NASA-Dryden X-4 Fact Sheet

See also

Comparable aircraft

• DH.108 Swallow
• Messerschmitt Me 163

Related lists

• List of X-4 flights

See also
Template:X-planes

Northrop aircraft

Fighters: FT · XP-56 · P-61 · F2T · XP-79 · F-89 · F-5 · CF-116 · YF-17 · F-18L · F-20 · YF-23

Attack: YA-13 · XA-16 · A-17 · BT · SBT · YA-9 - Bombers: YB-35 · B2T · YB-49 · B-62 · B-2

Transports: Alpha · C-19 · Beta · C-100 Gamma · RT Delta · YC-125

Reconnaissance: F-15 · RF-5 · TR-3 - Trainers: T-38

Experimental: N-1M · N-9M · MX-324 · X-4 · M2-F2 · M2-F3 · HL-10 · Tacit Blue · X-21

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "X-4 Bantam".