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NASA’s M2-F1 Lifting Body, tested at Edwards AFB, Calif., in the 1960s went on display at Edward’s Air Force Flight Test Museum late last month. “This is a hand built, one of a kind aircraft, designed to test the concept of wingless flight,” explained museum specialist Tony Moore in a base release. “This aircraft, made of steel tubes, wood, and fabric is a handmade work of art … whose contributions are still being utilized today,” he added. M2-F1 was an unpowered glider prototype for follow-on lifting bodies, culminating in the rocket-propelled X-24 aimed at validating concepts for aerodynamically efficiency and reusable spacecraft. The M2-F1, loaned from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center on-base, was initially towed aloft by a modified Pontiac convertible, and flew 77 flights towed by a C-47 to altitudes as high as 12,000 feet before releasing. The AFFT cleared dedicated space to display NASA’s history on base, and hopes to grow the exhibit in future. (Lifting Body factsheet)