page_title: Edwards Air Force Base
section_title: Flight testing
hierarchical_section_title: Edwards Air Force Base / History / Cold War / Flight testing
caption_attribution_description: English: McDonnell Douglas F-15A-1-MC Eagle 71-0280 (also known as YF-15A; first F-15 manufactured). The F-15A makes its historic first flight on July 27, 1972 here at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The F-15 was first delivered to the U.S. Air Force in November 1974. Now at USAF History and Traditions Museum, Lackland AFB, TX. (Reported in 2005 to be at Lackland AFB, TX but painted as "85-0114".)
context_page_description: Edwards Air Force Base is a United States Air Force installation located in Kern County in Southern California, about 22 miles northeast of Lancaster, 15 miles east of Rosamond and 5.5 miles south of California City.
  It is the home of the Air Force Test Center, Air Force Test Pilot School, and NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center. It is the Air Force Materiel Command center for conducting and supporting research and development of flight, as well as testing and evaluating aerospace systems from concept to combat. It also hosts many test activities conducted by America's commercial aerospace industry.
  Notable occurrences at Edwards include Chuck Yeager's flight that broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1, test flights of the North American X-15, the first landings of the Space Shuttle, and the 1986 around-the-world flight of the Rutan Voyager.
context_section_description: Jurisdiction of Edwards AFB was transferred from Air Materiel Command on 2 April 1951 to the newly created Air Research and Development Command. Activation of the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC) followed on 25 June 1951. Units designated and assigned to the Center at the time of activation were the 6510th Air Base Wing for station support units.  The test flying units at Edwards were assigned directly to the AFFTC .
  That same year, the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School moved to Edwards from Wright Field, Ohio.
  Its curriculum focused on the traditional field of performance testing and the relatively new field of stability and control, which had suddenly assumed critical importance with the dramatic increases in speed offered by the new turbojets. As the decade opened, the first-generation X-1 reached Mach 1.45 (1,776.31 km/h; 1,103.75 mph) and a 71,902 feet (13.6178 mi; 21.916 km) altitude, representing the edge of the envelope. The D-558-II Douglas Skyrocket soon surpassed these marks. In 1951, Douglas test pilot Bill Bridgeman flew the Skyrocket to a top speed of Mach 1.88 (2,303.08 km/h; 1,431.07 mph) and a peak altitude of 74,494 feet (14.1087 mi; 22.706 km). Then, in 1953, Marine Corps test pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Marion Carl, flew the same plane to an altitude of 83,235 feet (15.7642 mi; 25.370 km).
  On 20 November 1951, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics' Scott Crossfield became the first man to reach Mach 2 as he piloted the Skyrocket to a speed of Mach 2.005 (2,456.213 km/h; 1,526.220 mph). Less than a month later, Major Chuck Yeager topped this record as he piloted the second-generation Bell X-1A to a top speed of Mach 2.44 (2,989.11 km/h; 1,857.35 mph) and, just nine months later, Major Arthur "Kit" Murray flew the same airplane to a new altitude record of 90,440 feet (17.129 mi; 27.57 km).
  These records stood for less than three years. In September 1956, Captain Iven Kincheloe became the first man to soar above 100,000 feet (19 mi; 30 km), as he piloted the Bell X-2 to a then-remarkable altitude of 126,200 feet (23.90 mi; 38.5 km). Flying the same airplane just weeks later on 27 September, Captain Mel Apt became the first to exceed Mach 3 (3,675 km/h; 2,284 mph), accelerating to a speed of Mach 3.2 (3,920.1 km/h; 2,435.9 mph). His moment of glory was tragically brief, however. Just seconds after attaining top speed, the X-2 tumbled violently out of control and Apt was never able to recover.
  With the loss of the X-2, the search for many of the answers to the riddles of high-Mach flight had to be postponed until the arrival of the most ambitious of the rocket planes—the North American X-15.
  Meanwhile, the turbojet revolution had reached a high plateau at Edwards.  By the time the base was officially designated the U.S. Air Force Flight Test Center in June 1951, more than 40 different types of aircraft had first taken flight at the base and the nation's first generation of jet-powered combat airplanes had already completed development.  One of them, the North American F-86 Sabre, was dominating the skies over Korea.
  The promise of the turbojet revolution and the supersonic breakthrough were realized in the 1950s, as the Center tested and developed the first generation of true supersonic fighters—the famed "Century Series" F-100 Super Sabre, F-101 Voodoo, F-102 Delta Dagger, F-104 Starfighter, F-105 Thunderchief and F-106 Delta Dart, and, in the process, defined the basic speed and altitude envelopes for fighter aircraft that still prevail to this day.  The Center also played a pivotal role in the development of systems that would provide the United States with true intercontinental power projection capabilities as it tested aircraft such as the B-52 Stratofortress, C-133 Cargomaster and KC-135 Stratotanker, as well as the YC-130 Hercules which served as the basis for a classic series of tactical transports that would continue in frontline service until well into the 21st century. It also supported the development of the extremely high-altitude and long-range Lockheed U-2 and the dazzling ultra-p
caption: McDonnell Douglas F-15A-1-MC Eagle (AF Ser. No. 71-0280) (also known as YF-15A, first F-15 manufactured) preparing to make its historic first flight on 27 July 1972 at Edwards AFB, CA with the 6512th Test Squadron. This a/c was later used for exploring the F-15's flight envelope, handling qualities and external stores carriage capabilities.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Paint Shop Pro Photo 12.01", "Image DateTime": "2013:02:09 22:54:03", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "190", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "422", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7081", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "948", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "743", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "\u0001\u0001\u0001\u0001", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[3, 0, 0, 0]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "280"}