This airplane was the world's first jet aircraft to fly using the radical delta-wing configuration pioneered by Germany's Dr. Alexander Lippisch during the 1930s.
The Convair Model 7002 was completed in 1948 as a flying mock-up for the proposed delta wing XP-92 interceptor. (In 1948 the Air Force changed the designation from P for pursuit to F for fighter.) The XP-92 was to be powered with a new propulsion system that consisted of a ramjet engine with several small rockets inside the combustion chamber. It would have been a short range, Mach 1.65 interceptor with a flight time at altitude of 5.4 minutes. The Model 7002 was designed to investigate delta wing behavior at low and high subsonic speeds.
When the XP-92's engine proved impractical to build, the project was shelved in 1948. Even as the XP-92 program was ending, the Model 7002 was being prepared to fly. The 7002 was initially powered by an Allison J33-A-23 turbojet engine and later the J33-A-29 turbojet with afterburner. It was formally delivered to the USAF on May 14, 1949, and named the XF-92. It was flown by Air Force test pilots until its nose gear collapsed on landing on Oct. 14, 1953, ending its flying career. With the experience gained from the XF-92 program, Convair was able to win the competition for the "1954 Interceptor" program and to build the successful delta-wing F-102.
Only one XF-92A was built; it was delivered to the museum in 1969 from the University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn.
U.S. Air Force Test Base in Muroc, California. This film covers the first test flight of the Model 7002 (Air Force designation, XF-92A). The scenes show the XF-92A No. 6682 as it was being towed from its hangar by tug, the pilot as he boarded the aircraft, fast taxi tests, a low flight over the runway, takeoff and landing. The film also includes aerial shots of the XF-92A in flight and as it approached for landing.
National Archives and Records Administration - ARC Identifier 66653 / Local Identifier 342-USAF-22783 - Research Tests of Convair Model 7002 Airplane - Department of Defense. Department of the Air Force. (09/26/1947).
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