North American X-10 - Service History

Service History

At the time it came into service, the X-10 was one of the fastest turbojet-powered aircraft flown. From 1953 to 1955 a total of five X-10s flew 15 flights at Edwards AFB. There it reached a maximum flight speed of Mach 1.84, flew a distance of 400 mi (644 km), and reached an altitude of 41,000 feet. These were performance levels superior to nearly all manned turbojet aircraft (the exception being the YF-104 Starfighter). In 1955 the program moved to Cape Canaveral, Florida to complete the test program. Here a new set of six X-10 vehicles would complete the testing of the N-6 inertial navigation system out to supersonic speeds, reach 49,000 feet altitude, a total flight distance of 627 mi (1,009 km) and a peak speed of Mach 2.05.

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