Scaled Composites White Knight

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The Scaled Composites model number for White Knight is 318. White Knight is registered with the Federal Aviation Administration as {{Airreg|N|318SL|.}}

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The White Knight carrier airplane was designed around the twin afterburning General Electric J85 engines, which were selected for their availability and low cost. The aircraft was a completely new independent design. White Knight and SpaceShipOne shared the same forward fuselage outer mold line (OML) to reduce development costs and with the original intent to allow for White Knight to act as a flying simulator for training SpaceShipOne pilots. White Knight first flew on August 1, 2002. The flight was aborted shortly after takeoff due to a problem with the outboard wing spoilers. These trailing edge spoilers were designed to greatly increase the glide slope so that the White Knight vehicle could act as a flying simulator for training of SpaceShipOne pilots. During the first flight, the mechanical over-center torque was insufficient to maintain the spoilers in the closed position. The spoilers deployed into the free stream and began a limit cycle forcing the pilot (Mike Melvill) to abort. The spoilers were subsequently disabled completely and the desire for a steep glide slope matching SpaceShipOne was abandoned.

White Knight next flew on August 5, 2002, and this time performed well. Development proceeded over the next few months. With White Knight developed and evaluated, on April 18, 2003, White Knight and SpaceShipOne were presented to the media.

Subsequently, White Knight flew as part of the Tier One program that won the Ansari X Prize on October 4, 2004.

Afterwards, White Knight was used to carry and launch DARPA's experimental X-37 spaceplane for its approach and landing tests in 2005 and 2006.

It was followed up by the White Knight Two, which has a similar but larger design.

Flights of White Knight are numbered, starting with flight 1 on August 1, 2002. Flights where SpaceShipOne was carried also get one or two appended letters. An appended "C" indicates that the flight was a captive carry, and "L" indicates that SpaceShipOne was launched. If the flight actually flown differs in category from the intended flight, then two letters are appended, the first giving the intended mission and the second the mission actually performed.

White Knight was contracted to perform both captive carry and drop test flights of the DARPA/Boeing X-37. First captive carry flight was on June 21, 2005, and first drop was on April 7, 2006 (the X-37 was subsequently damaged on landing at Edwards Air Force Base). Initially, the flights originated from Mojave, but following the landing incident, the program was moved to Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, and at least five subsequent flights were made there.

In late 2006, White Knight flew a seven-flight test program of the adaptive compliant wing developed by FlexSys Inc. with funding by the Air Force Research Laboratory. A laminar flow test article was mounted vertically under White Knight's centerline pylon for the 20-flight-hour research program that tested the flexible wing's aerodynamic characteristics.Scott, William B, "Morphing Wings", Aviation Week & Space Technology, 2006-11-27Scott, William B, "White Knight Back in Action", Aviation Week & Space Technology, 2006-11-27

In July 2014 White Knight made its final planned flight, arriving at Paine Field in Everett, Washington, to become part of the Flying Heritage Collection.{{cite web |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/virgin-voyage/spaceshipones-white-knight-airplane-makes-final-flight-n162441 |title=SpaceShipOne's White Knight Airplane Makes Final Flight |publisher=NBC News |date=2014-07-22}}

{{Aircraft specs

|ref=Scaled Composites{{Cite web |url=http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/data_sheets/html/white_knight.htm |title=Posterboard - White Knight |access-date=2007-11-28 |archive-date=2007-12-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071210214107/http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/data_sheets/html/white_knight.htm |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |title=White Knight |url=https://www.scaled.com/portfolio/white-knight/ |website=Scaled Composites |access-date=24 January 2019}}

|prime units?=kts

|crew=3

|capacity= {{cvt|8000|lb}} payload

|length m=

|span ft=83

|height m=

|wing area sqm=

|aspect ratio=

|airfoil=

|empty weight lb=6360

|gross weight kg=

|max takeoff weight lb=18000

|fuel capacity={{cvt|6400|lb}}

|more general=

|eng1 number=2

|eng1 name= General Electric J85-GE-5

|eng1 type=afterburning turbojet

|eng1 lbf=2400

|eng1 lbf-ab=3600

|max speed kmh=

|cruise speed kmh=

|stall speed kmh=

|never exceed speed kmh=

|minimum control speed kmh=

|range km=

|ferry range km=

|endurance=

|ceiling ft=53000

|g limits=

|roll rate=

|climb rate ms=

|time to altitude=

|wing loading kg/m2=

|fuel consumption kg/km=

|thrust/weight=

|more performance=

}}

• Carriage and launch of payloads up to 7,000 lbs
• Altitude capability above 53,000 ft
• Large, three-place cabin (60-inch diameter outside, 59-inch inside)
• Sea level cabin qualified for unlimited altitude
• ECS scrubs {{CO2}}, removes humidity and defogs windows
• Two crew doors with dual seals and dual-pane windows
• Manual flight controls with three-axis electric trim
• Avionics include INS-GPS navigator, flight-director, flight test data (recording and T/M), air-data, vehicle health monitoring, backup flight instruments, and video system
• The 82 ft wing can be extended to 93 ft for increased climb capability
• Super-effective, pneumatic speed brakes allow steep descent with L/D < 4.5
• Hydraulic wheel brakes and nose-gear steering
• Pneumatic main gear retraction
• Dual-bus electrical power system
• Cockpit allows single-pilot operation (VMC-day conditions only)

• Flying aircraft carrier
• Scaled Composites Proteus
• Scaled Composites Stratolaunch

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{commons category|White Knight}}

• [http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/ Scaled Composites' Tier One website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180407012257/http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/ |date=2018-04-07 }}
• [http://162.58.35.241/acdatabase/NNumSQL.asp?NNumbertxt=318SL White Knight's FAA registration]
• [http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/050527_whiteknight_x37.html WhiteKnight to launch X-37 test flights]

{{The Spaceship Company}}

{{Scaled Composites}}

{{Ansari X-Prize}}

{{Aero specs missing}}

Category:SpaceShipOne

White Knight

Category:Scaled Composites Tier One program

Category:2000s United States experimental aircraft

Category:Twin-boom aircraft

Category:Aircraft first flown in 2002

Category:Aircraft related to spaceflight