Air Launched
Aircraft that are dropped from a mothership, usually at altitude. All are manned unless noted otherwise.
| Year | Country of origin | Name of Aircraft | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1944 | Germany | Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg | manned V-1 Flying Bomb dropped from Heinkel He 111 or rail launched |
| 1945 | Japan | Ohka | air-launched kamikaze aircraft |
| 1947 | United States | Bell X-1 | first aircraft to break the sound barrier in level flight (Also conventional take off on one occasion) |
| 1953 | United States | Douglas D-588-II Skyrocket | supersonic research aircraft |
| 1955 | United States | Bell X-2 | supersonic research aircraft |
| 1959 | United States | North American X-15 | hypersonic research aircraft |
| 1969 | United States | Martin Marietta X-24A | re-entry/lifting body research aircraft |
| 1973 | United States | Martin Marietta X-24B | re-entry/lifting body research aircraft |
Read more about this topic: List Of Rocket Aircraft
Famous quotes containing the words air and/or launched:
“Then, that no region of the universe
Should remain void of life, the floor of heaven
Was peopled with the stars and godlike forms,
The seas became the abode of glittering fish.
Earth took the beasts and mobile air the birds.
A holier animal was wanting.”
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
“It was a very primitive kind of harbor, where boats were drawn up amid the stumps,—such a one, methought, as the Argo might have been launched in.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)