Douglas Aircraft Co. last week revealed its new sonic research plane, the "Skyrocket" (D-558-2). The Skyrocket's design differs radically from its original layout as a modified version of the "Skystreak" (D-5584). The needle-nose, swept-wing craft has emerged from the Douglas factory as an entirely new concept in highspeed flight incorporating all of the known ingredients for sonic speed, many only recently revealed by intensive wind tunnel research work.
The Skyrocket combines the rocket power of the XS-1 with the turbojet power of the Chance Vought Pirate, incorporates thin, swept wings of low aspect ratio and a swept tail. Long, thin nose assures low fuselage drag and flush air inlets avoid the blunt nose of the D-558-l. Navy. Douglas and NACA engineers are confident that sonic speed with a piloted aircraft is now only a question of getting the D-558-2 into the air and striking for the mark.
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