The ‘Cranked-Arrow Wing’ F-16XL Strike Fighter Flew Just 40 Feet Below an SR-71 Blackbird That Was Flying at Mach 1.8 for NASA

The ‘Cranked-Arrow Wing’ F-16XL Strike Fighter Flew Just 40 Feet Below an SR-71 Blackbird That Was Flying at Mach 1.8 for NASA

F-16XL: The Strike Fighter That Lost to the F-15E and Found a Second Life at NASA – General Dynamics spent $65.4 million through the first flight of the F-16XL, according to NASA’s comprehensive history of the program. The first of two prototypes took off from Fort Worth, Texas, on July 3, 1982. Its enormous cranked-arrow wing made it look only partly related to the lightweight F-16 from which it had started. The original goal was to solve a pro…