Douglas D-558

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 so