The Bell X-5 was the first aircraft capable of changing the sweep of its wings in flight. It was inspired by the untested wartime P.1101 design of the German Messerschmitt company.

2014年2月28日 · The Bell X-5 was built to test the feasibility of changing the sweep angle of an aircraft’s wings in flight. This had advantages from both an operational and research point of view.

The X-5 was the world's first high-performance airplane to vary the sweepback of its wings in flight. It investigated the characteristics of variable sweep aircraft in flight and the feasibility of producing aircraft with this feature.

2024年5月5日 · Introduced in the early 1950s, the Bell X-5 was instrumental in exploring the aerodynamic implications of variable-sweep wing designs. The primary aim was to assess how different wing configurations affected performance during various phases of flight, such as takeoff, cruise, and landing.

2016年1月18日 · The X-5 completed all of the research goals originally set for the first aircraft capable of variably sweeping its wings in flight. Demonstrating wing sweep from 20 to 60 degrees, the aircraft verified NACA wind-tunnel predictions of reduced drag and improved performance resulting from increased wing sweep as it approached Mach 1.

2022年8月18日 · With only two units produced, Bell X-5 remains one of the most important aircraft in post-WWII history. This plane played a critical role in testing the sweep angle changes of a plane’s wings while flying.

The Bell X-5 was the first aircraft capable of changing the sweep of its wings in flight. It was inspired by the untested wartime P.1101 design of the German Messerschmitt company.

Bell X-5 (AF 50-1838) c.2001 at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, WPAFB, Dayton, Ohio. Overview. The Bell X-5 was the first aircraft capable of changing the sweep of its wings in flight. It was inspired by the untested wartime P.1101 design of the German Messerschmitt company.

2019年3月12日 · The X-5 was an experimental single-seat, single-engine, jet-powered fighter design prototype produced by the Bell Aircraft company and became the first aircraft to make use of in-flight variable geometry wings.

Although the wing-sweep mechanism was found to be impractical for use on future aircraft, the X-5 validated wind-tunnel tests indicating that increasing wing-sweep when approaching Mach 1 …