F 2329 Flight into the Future Bell A/C Bell X-2

From the archives of the San Diego Air and Space Museum www.sandiegoairandspace.org/re... Please do not use for commercial purposes without permission.

[@Istandby666]

I miss Edwards Air Force Base. I was there from 1984 to 1992.

[@dougball328]

At about the 9 minute mark they conduct a ground test of the rocket engine. I can't believe there is a guy standing right next to the aft end of the airplane. A failure similar to the X-15 and you wouldn't find a piece of this guy bigger than a dime.

[@orange70383]

The guy right next to the plane at 8:22 has some balls.

[@PRH123]

Love the ground test... nowadays the engine run would be done in a million dollar building... and instead of holding hands over ears they'd be wearing thousand dollar hearing protectors... amazing how small the cockpit of the X2 was... I never realized until i saw this film how small the X2 was overall...

[@pedrodiaz5540]

Great

[@dks13827]

Great stuff. Who was that test pilot ?

[@hckyplyr9285]

There were several - Skip Ziegler flew the aircraft for Bell but was killed in the explosion of the 2nd aircraft over Lake Ontario, a victim of the tragic combination of ulmer leather gaskets and liquid oxygen. For USAF, the pilots were Pete Everest, Iven Kincheloe, and Mel Apt, who died in the crash of the 1st X-2 after making the first Mach 3+ flight. But the one you see in the video is Pete Everest, a helluva pilot and fellow West Virginian to Chuck Yeager.

[@prowlus]

Sam beckett was flying it

[@Istandby666]

You're not even aloud one mistake with this stuff.....lol That's because your one mistake is your last mistake....lol If you're lucky. Your body may reach mach before the aircraft does....lol

[@orange70383]

This looks fake, no shots of it really doing anything.