No-Wing Plane

In the early days of the Space Shuttle program, or even before there was one, US scientists continually delved into uncharted territory, with many inquiries soon arising.

While NASA was able to take a spacecraft into the atmosphere, it soon became evident that the real test was to bring it back down in one piece. But for all the knowledge that military developers had acquired about aviation, the space frontier still posed an unprecedented challenge.

That is, until an engineer from the Flight Research Center unearthed a concept from many decades before: if the wings were a problem for a spacecraft re-entering the Earth, the solution could be to get rid of them!

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Join Dark Skies as we explore the world of aviation with cinematic short documentaries featuring the biggest and fastest airplanes ever built, top-secret military projects, and classified missions with hidden untold true stories. Including US, German, and Soviet warplanes, along with aircraft developments that took place during World War I, World War 2, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Gulf War, and special operations mission in between.

As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Skies sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect and soundtracks for emotional impact. We do our best to keep it as visually accurate as possible.

All content on Dark Skies is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas.

[johnharris]

My father-in-law worked on both the M2-F2 and HL10 as an aeronautical engineer at Dryden. Later, he was in charge of engineering aspects of the Enterprise testing and had some great stories! We now have a bunch of his NASA memorabilia, including pictures and patches. Great video even though he wasn’t in it.

[BrianSFischer]

My dad worked on the lifting bodies. After retirement, he restored the M2-F1. As a matter of fact, if you look at time code 9:51, he is in the white van following the M2-F1 being delivered back o NASA.

[ProjectFlashlight]

The real HL-10 was featured at least twice in _The Six Million Dollar Man._ It was seen every week in the opening credits.

[rodolfoa]

I think this is what inspired the A-Wing to take it's shape, truly an interesting flying vessel.

[grene]

I was a fueler on the flight line at Edwards AFB (Rogers Dry Lake) in 1974. I fueled the mothership and touched the lifting body... a very cool memory!

[greg_mid_tn]

The glory days of engineering. When you could combine space age tech with muscle cars!

[wormyboot]

I'm currently training in a Cessna 150F. The fact they kept using that landing gear is super impressive.

[Jkend]

People joke about the "flying bathtub, " but ALL modern fighter aircraft now use this "lifting body" concept, the F-15, arguably the greatest fighter aircraft ever designed derives more than 40% of its lift from its fuselage as do virtually every other modern fighter designs. This concept also led directly to the Rockwell Space Shuttle, the single greatest aircraft ever designed (with the possible exception of the Wright Flyer) The "flying bathtub" is one of the most significant experimental aircraft in the history of aviation and it deserves far more respect than it gets.

[SDwriter.and.surfer]

My brothers and I were obsessed with these lifting-body vehicles when we were kids. That was back in the 1960s. Made our own crude paper/cardboard models of them and tossed them around like paper planes.

[harryschaefer]

Thank you for this fascinating story. I've seen photos of the thing, but this video explains the chronology of development very well.

[ejgrant]

I lived in Mountain Veiw, CA in the late 60's. My father was a WWII P-38 pilot. We had base passes to allow us use of the PX @ Moffett Field. Some of my classmates in Elementary School lived on base @ Moffett. Viet Nam was in full swing @ the time. When we would go over to Moffett to play with our classmates the housing was near Ames Research Center & the giant wind tunnel. There was a scrap yard of research models of the Lifting Body research program that was kind of restricted area. Kids will be kids...We played amongst these models...Playing "Lost in Space" and once two friends decided they would try to open the hatch on the bottom of a tunnel test model that was at least 1/2 scale if not full scale...Well we quickly found out that stuff was HEAVY! I don't know if it was plaster of paris, fibreglass or wood but, once that hatch was unlatched...It came TUMBLING DOWN upon the two kids and was never going back in place! I think about that time we had attracted the attention of the Navy Shore Patrol and had to quickly disperse and run away! Fun times in the 1960's! The liftning body was also used in the opening video of Lee Majors TV show "The Six Million Dollar Man"....quite a severe crack-up @ Edwards AFB I would presume.

[robertdragoff]

When I found out that the shuttle was an actual lifting body I was surprised….

Lifting bodies are cone shaped with stubby wings, or so I thought.

Excellent video.

[DB-jcns]

“The car could now reach 110mph while towing the bathtub.”

Out of context, that’s a golden sentence right there 😂

[thomasowens]

Without this plane we would never of had the Bionic Man.

[kaideechu]

When I was 10 years old in 1970, I could swear I've seen a similar aircraft flying over my elementary school, and landed at a nearby military airport.

[carlmontney]

A great video about the "hey, let's try this" era. Well done !

[tomkitchen]

That's one very brave test pilot.

[glenn_r_frank_author]

The Dreamchaser craft is essentially a lifting body although it does have some "wings" toward the rear angled steeply up for stability control. the Lockheed Martin X-33 would have also utilized the lifting body design and research.

[tybehny]

5:20 That's my Grand Uncle Milt! He was a real man's man, according to my father. Dad has nothing but praise for his Mom's test pilot brother.

[robertminnicks]

All space flights were my interest, it really cool that most comments sharing that their parents worked on lifting bodies. I still love reading and listening to these stories. I guess after living in Arlington in the early 50’s and my Dad was friends with some pilots and watch air show and demo at the Pentagon, a lot happened in this part of the country.