Pictures of Cold War aircraft.

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XF-85A_EB-29B.jpg

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One and only one. It NEVER made production, therefore never existed.

TWO.

46-0687 was the first, 46-0688 the second.
-7 had two non-afterburning J34s for aerodynamic flight testing, but -8 had afterburning J34s and was the first USAF jet with an afterburner and the first Lockheed jet to fly supersonic, albeit in a dive.

After losing the penetration fighter to McDonnell's XF-88 in Sept. 1950 the two prototypes were retired to other testing roles.

The first aircraft (46-687) was shipped to the NACA Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio in 1953 for structural tests. It was no longer flyable, and its extremely strong airframe was tested to destruction.

The other (46-688) survived three atomic blasts at Frenchman Flat within the Nevada Test Site in 1952. In 2003, the heavily damaged hulk was recovered from the Nevada Test Site and moved to the National Museum of the USAF in Dayton Ohio. Its wings have been removed, and its nose was mangled by the nuclear blasts. During the decontamination process, all rivets were removed to purge radioactive sand. The aircraft is now on display in the museum's Cold War gallery in a diorama depicting it on the Nevada Test Site.

Here is -8 at the test site:

Lockheed XF-90 46-688 Yucca_Flat.jpg


And both in flight sans tip tanks:

both XF-90s.jpg


The first one often used RATO due to the lack of take-off thrust:

first XF-90 RATO assist.jpg


1cd53b495d1b9bd2d5220dbb877ce8d5.jpg


38495526716_b049ed636b_k-768x490.jpg
 
TWO.

46-0687 was the first, 46-0688 the second.
-7 had two non-afterburning J34s for aerodynamic flight testing, but -8 had afterburning J34s and was the first USAF jet with an afterburner and the first Lockheed jet to fly supersonic, albeit in a dive.

After losing the penetration fighter to McDonnell's XF-88 in Sept. 1950 the two prototypes were retired to other testing roles.

The first aircraft (46-687) was shipped to the NACA Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio in 1953 for structural tests. It was no longer flyable, and its extremely strong airframe was tested to destruction.

The other (46-688) survived three atomic blasts at Frenchman Flat within the Nevada Test Site in 1952. In 2003, the heavily damaged hulk was recovered from the Nevada Test Site and moved to the National Museum of the USAF in Dayton Ohio. Its wings have been removed, and its nose was mangled by the nuclear blasts. During the decontamination process, all rivets were removed to purge radioactive sand. The aircraft is now on display in the museum's Cold War gallery in a diorama depicting it on the Nevada Test Site.

Here is -8 at the test site:

View attachment 805529

And both in flight sans tip tanks:

View attachment 805530

The first one often used RATO due to the lack of take-off thrust:

View attachment 805531

View attachment 805532

View attachment 805533
Yeah we were (I thought we were) talking about the one left in a scrap heap display. But thanks for in info.
 

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