Aeroplane Aviation Archive — Issue 33 The World’s Fastest Aircraft

(Jacob Rumans) #1

NORTH AMERICAN X-15^77


The only man to have travelled at Mach 6.7 in a winged aircraft, US Air Force pilot
William J. ‘Pete’ Knight is photographed alongside X-15A-2 56-6671. Because of the
potential dangers to the pilot should the X-15’s pressurised cockpit lose its atmosphere
while the aircraft operated in a near-space environment, X-15 pilots wore specially
developed full-pressure protection ‘spacesuits’ while flying the experimental aircraft.

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