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:
“The Laws of Nature are just, but terrible. There is no weak mercy in them. Cause and consequence are inseparable and inevitable. The elements have no forbearance. The fire burns, the water drowns, the air consumes, the earth buries. And perhaps it would be well for our race if the punishment of crimes against the Laws of Man were as inevitable as the punishment of crimes against the Laws of Nature—were Man as unerring in his judgments as Nature.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)
“We’re designing a new spacecraft to be launched and there are no women. Where are they? I wonder. I worry.”
—Andrea Dupree (b. 1939)