X-15: Extending the Frontiers of Flight
by Dennis R. Jenkins, NASA, available for free download, 2007.
It is usually unwise to call a book “definitive” because you never know what is waiting at the publishers, but I can say unequivocally that Dennis R. Jenkins’ excellent X-15: Extending the Frontiers of Flight is the definitive book on that advanced rocket plane, the North American X-15. Just as he did in his monumental Space Shuttle: The History of the National Space Transportation System, the First 100 Missions, Jenkins combines immense research, first-person reports, an engineering background and writing skill to create a masterpiece in this huge book on the X-15.
Written with the full cooperation of surviving X-15 pilots, including the late great Scotty Crossfield and Pete Knight, Jenkins’ book makes the intricate, sometimes almost unfathomable engineering details of the rocket plane accessible even to the average layman. Among the bevy of celebrities quoted, the usually reclusive Neil Armstrong, who flew the X-15 seven times, also contributed significant details on the development of the MH-96 adaptive flight control system. A succinct foreword by famed X-15 pilot and newly anointed astronaut Bill Dana notes that “The X-15 was an aircraft of accelerations” and delivers a fascinating view of the physical demands of flying it.
Jenkins writes in a straightforward, chrono – logical manner, amply documenting his ac – count with footnotes that manage not to intrude on the narrative. Even things that everyone takes for granted, such as the development of the High Range and the acquisition of the lake beds, are explained. In a similar way, he incorporates all the background material, including a comprehensive history of the development of the all-important XLR 99 rocket engine—something that has never been done before, to my knowledge.
The X-15’s achievements were brilliant, and as Jenkins notes in his preface, accomplished in a spirit and within a timeframe that is apparently impossible to achieve today. A careful reader can peruse the detailed entries of the 58-page flight log of the X-15 series and follow the rocket plane’s career through its highlights as well as its low points.
Like the icing on a superb cake, Jenkins includes a CD with more than 200 photos of the people and planes that made the X-15 program possible, along with the complete flight reports for each mission. The CD alone is worth the price of admission. Every business and public aviation library should have this package, and every aviation enthusiast will want it.
And here is the kicker: You can get it free, today (less the CD). The book will, at some point, be available from the Government Printing Office, at www.gpo.gov, for an as yet undetermined price. In the meantime, you can download a 13MB PDF file of the book—minus the CD content—at http:// hdl.handle.net/2060/20080008340.
Originally published in the September 2008 issue of Aviation History. To subscribe, click here.
