This short but exciting article will show you the ten coolest looking airplanes Neil Armstrong flew. Enjoy these pictures of some rare and fascinating airplanes. As a test pilot with the Navy and later NASA, he piloted more than 200 kinds of aircraft, among them the most advanced jets American engineers could roll out.
Top Ten Coolest Aircraft Neil Armstrong Flew
- Grumman F9F-2 Panther
- North American F-100C
- McDonnell F-101 Voodoo
- Lockheed F-104 Starfighter
- X-1B (Bell Model 58B)
- Bell X-5
- Paraglider Research Vehicle, or Paresev
- X-15
- Gemini 8
- Apollo Lunar Module
Grumman F9F-2 Panther
The famous Grumman F9F Panther is one of the United States Navy’s first triumphant carrier-based jet fighters and Grumman’s first jet fighter. A straight-winged single-engined day fighter. The F9F was armed with four 20 mm (0.79 in) cannons and could carry a wide assortment of air-to-ground munitions. During the Korean War, Armstrong flew 78 combat missions in a Grumman F9F-2 Panther.
North American F-100C
The historic North American F-100 Super Sabre is a famous American jet fighter aircraft that served with the United States Air Force (USAF). It flew from 1954 to 1971 and with the (ANG) Air National Guard until 1979. It was also the first of the Century Series of USAF jet fighters capable of supersonic speed in level flight. After the war, Neil Armstrong served as a test pilot at the High-Speed Flight Station, where he flew the North American F-100C.
McDonnell F-101 Voodoo
The famous McDonnell F-101 Voodoo is a supersonic jet fighter that served in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and the United States Air Force (USAF). McDonnell Aircraft Corporation originally designed it as a long-range bomber escort for the USAF’s Strategic Air Command (SAC). The McDonnell F-101 Voodoo was developed as a nuclear-armed fighter-bomber for the USAF’s Tactical Air Command (TAC) and as a photo-reconnaissance aircraft based on the same airframe. This was a fantastic jet fighter Neil Armstrong flew.
Lockheed F-104 Starfighter
Another great airplane Neil Armstrong flew was the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. It was a single-engine, supersonic interceptor aircraft that was extensively deployed as a fighter-bomber during the Cold War. It was created as a day fighter by the well known Lockheed as one of the Century Series of fighter aircraft for the (USAF) United States Air Force. And it was also developed into an all-weather multirole aircraft in the early 1960s. It was produced by several other nations, seeing extensive service outside the United States.
X-1B (Bell Model 58B)
The X-1B (with serial number 48-1385) was equipped with aerodynamic heating instrumentation for thermal research. The X-1B was similar to the X-1A except for having a somewhat different wing. It was used for high-speed study by the U.S. Air Force starting from October 1954, before being transferred to the NACA during January 1955. NACA extended to fly the aircraft until January 1958. But when cracks in the fuel tanks later forced its grounding. The X-1B made a total of 27 flights. A notable accomplishment was installing a system of small reaction rockets for directional control and making the historic X-1B the first aircraft to fly with this advanced control system, later used in the North American X-15. Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1, Neil Armstrong later flew the X-1B.
Bell X-5
Neil Armstrong was the pilot for the last flight in the program, using a Bell X-5. The historic Bell X-5 was the first aircraft able to change the sweep of its wings in flight. It was inspired by the untested P.1101 design of the German Messerschmitt company. But in contrast with the German method, which could only have its wing sweepback angle adjusted on the ground, the Bell X-5 engineers devised a system of electric motors to adjust the sweep in flight.
Paraglider Research Vehicle, or Paresev
The Paraglider Research Vehicle or (Paresev) was an experimental NASA glider aircraft based upon the kite-parachute studies by NASA engineer Francis Rogallo. Between 1961 and 1965, the Rogallo wing’s ability (also called “Para wing”) to descend a payload like the Gemini space capsule safely from high altitude to ground was studied. Neil Armstrong flew this vehicle. The Paraglider Research Vehicle was a test vehicle used to control this parachute-wing for a safe landing at a standard airfield.
X-15
The North American X-15 is a historic and well known hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration operated it as part of the X-plane series of experimental aircraft and the United States Air Force. The fantastic X-15 set multitudes of altitude and speed records in the 1960s reached the edge of outer space and returned with valuable data used in aircraft and spacecraft design.
And during the X-15 program, twelve pilots flew a combined 199 flights. Of these, eight pilots flew a combined 13 flights that met the Air Force spaceflight criterion by exceeding 50 miles (80 km), thus qualifying these pilots as astronauts, and one of those heroic pilots was Neil Armstrong. Later Commander on Apollo 11 mission to the moon. In the X-15 rocket plane, Armstrong reached 207,500 feet and Mach 5.74 (3,989 mph).
Gemini 8
Gemini 8 was the sixth crewed spaceflight in NASA’s historic Gemini program. It was first launched on March 16, 1966, and was the 12th crewed American flight and the 22nd human-crewed spaceflight of all time. The mission handled the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit but experienced the first critical space system failure of a U.S. spacecraft, which endangered the astronauts’ lives and demanded an immediate abort of the mission.
The astronauts returned to Earth safely. And piloting the Gemini 8, Armstrong was the first to dock two spacecraft while in orbit. Command pilot Armstrong’s flight marked the second time in history a U.S. civilian traveled into space and also the first time a U.S. civilian flew into orbit.
Apollo Lunar Module
The Apollo Lunar Module, or Lunar Module (LM), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM). NASA flew the lunar lander spacecraft between Moon’s orbit and the lunar surface during the U.S. Apollo program. It was the first human-crewed spacecraft to operate exclusively in the airless vacuum of space and continues to be the only human-crewed vehicle to land anywhere beyond our planet. And together with Buzz Aldrin on board, Neil Armstrong landed the Apollo 11 Lunar Module on the Moon.
That’s it – I hope you enjoyed the article! If you want to know more about Neil Armstrong, head over to my biography about this humble hero. It is called “Neil Armstrong First Man On The Moon.”
Some “Bonus” Pics With Neil Armstrong and Planes and Vehicles
