Built by the Douglas Aircraft Company, the X-3 Stiletto had an unorthodox, almost futuristic design. Maj. Charles E. Yeager, the first pilot to break the sound barrier, was in the inspection team for the aircraft and influenced its design. The X-3 had short, stubbed wings and a long nose, making the overall structure mimic a stiletto heel. A pressurized cockpit was embedded inside its slender fuselage, offering a limited view to the pilot who sat in a reclined, downward ejecting seat, which doubled as an electronically controlled lift.
The X-3 was also the first aircraft to use titanium in its construction in a bid to explore the viability of the element in airframes. Also nestled in the cramped fuselage were the two Westinghouse J34 turbojets powering the X-3 toward its ambitious goals. These J34s were actually underpowered substitutes when the originally planned higher-thrust J36s failed to meet the program’s demands and timelines.
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