McDonnell Douglas X-36

The McDonnell Douglas X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft was a subscale prototype jet
designed to fly without the traditional tail surfaces common on most aircraft.

For control, a canard forward of the wing was used as well as split ailerons and an advanced thrust vectoring nozzle for directional control. The X-36 was unstable in both
pitch and
yaw axes,
so an advanced digital fly-by-wire control system was put in place to stabilize the aircraft.

The X-36 was built to approximately one-quarter scale of a possible fighter aircraft, and
controlled by a pilot in a ground station virtual cockpit with a view provided
by a video camera mounted in the nose of the aircraft.

First flown on May 17, 1997, it made 31 successful research flights. It handled very well,
and the program is reported to have met or exceeded all project goals.

The aircraft is sometimes referred to as the Boeing X-36 as the test program was still in progress
when McDonnell Douglas merged with the Boeing Company. In the adjoining photograph it is carrying Boeing
markings.

This aircraft was inducted into the United States Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base on July 16, 2003.

See also