X-1 and B-50

From the start, rocket-powered X-Planes typically hitched a ride to get into the air. Here, a ground crew prepares to mate the X-1-3 to its mother ship, a B-50, in November 1951 for a captive flight.

As it would turn out, both aircraft were destroyed after the flight during defueling, according to NASA, and X-1 pilot Joseph Cannon was severely burned, requiring a hospital stay of nearly a year.

Altogether, 18 pilots flew the various X-1 planes. The X-1 measured nearly 31 feet long, stood almost 11 feet high, and had a wingspan of 29 feet. It weighed more than 6,700 pounds and carried nearly that much weight in fuel.