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March 7

In 1956… Dan Perkins, engineer at Britain’s Royal Aircraft Establishment, makes his first flight in an inflatable airplane in Bedfordshire, England. It takes 25 minutes to inflate it, using a large domestic vacuum cleaner.
In 1961… The # 2 North America X-15 becomes the fist manned aircraft to exceed Mach 4 when pilot Capt. Robert M. White reaches a speed of 2,905 mph which, at the altitude of 77,450 ft., is Mach 4.43.
The North American X-15 rocket-powered aircraft was part of the X-series of experimental aircraft that were made for the USAF, NASA, and the USN. The X-15 set speed and altitude records in the early 1960s, reaching the edge of outer space and returning with valuable data used in aircraft and spacecraft design.
It currently holds the official world record for the fastest speed ever reached by a manned aircraft.
During the X-15 program, 13 of the flights (by eight pilots) met the USAF spaceflight criteria by exceeding the altitude of 50 miles or 264,000 ft, thus qualifying the pilots for astronaut status. The USAF pilots qualified for USAF astronaut wings, while the civilian pilots were later awarded NASA astronaut wings.
Of all the X-15 missions, two flights (by the same pilot) qualified as space flights per the international definition of a spaceflight by exceeding a 100 kilometer or 328,084 ft altitude.
The 3 x-15′s and the 2 B-52 “motherships” flew a total of 199 test flights. The 200th flight was scheduled for 21 November 1968 but was canceled due to several weather and technical delays. The last B-52 mother ship was operational at the flight test center until 2004. It retired as the oldest aircraft in the USAF Inventory at 52 years of service.

And that is what happened TODAY in Aviation History. See you Tomorrow!

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