Aircraft
Mixed Success for Boeing X-planes at Edwards
The X-48C blended wing body research vehicle on the ramp at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB, a few weeks before its first flight. (Photo: Chris Pocock)
The X-48C blended wing body research vehicle on the ramp at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB, a few weeks before its first flight. (Photo: Chris Pocock)

Boeing reported the first flight of the X-48C blended wing body (BWB) research aircraft at Edwards AFB on August 7. The unmanned 8.5-percent scale model reached 5,500 feet during a nine-minute flight. A week later, however, the company’s third X-51 Waverider hypersonic testbed flight ended in failure when its scramjet failed to ignite.