Divers Chase Decades-Old Rumor, Find Classified Item That Was Never Meant To Go Public

Chasing Perfection

Wikimedia Commons / Articseahorse / CC 4.0

These cute little aircraft turned out to really pack a punch. They reached Mach 1.7 before the glassy waters of lake claimed their prize. The engineers had the information that they needed to move the design to the next stage.

Surprisingly little needed to be tweaked, based on the prototypes’ flight data. The wings were drooped and given a camber. A dog-tooth was introduced. The newly-published area rule principle was applied, leading to changes such as a sharper nose and the addition of a tail cone.

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