If anyone thinks they’ve got the right stuff and dreams of flying a supersonic rocket plane, then XCOR Aerospace has a deal for them.
The Tehachapi, California-based company will build a replica of the famed X-1 (dubbed the NeX-1) for anyone with the nerve to fly it and with deep enough pockets to pay for it.
In 1947, then Air Force Capt. Charles "Chuck" Yeager broke the sound barrier for the first time at what is now Edwards Air Force Base in California. He flew into history aboard a Bell X-1 named "Glamorous Glennis" after his wife.
Any hotshot hoping to push the envelope like Yeager did had better have some green in that envelope, too.
"We haven’t found the guy with the money yet," said Jeff Greason, company president and engineering manager. "We’re looking more for a customer than an investor."
Greason said building an updated version of the XLR-11 engine would cost about $2.5 million. It would take another $2 million to $3 million for a NeX-1 airframe.
He said he hopes to have a deal within the next few months and has had some interested parties so far.
"I think there’s a market for replica aircraft, Greason said. "And I think there’s someone who will want this kind of aircraft built."
Several companies in the United States are building replica World War I and World War II propeller-driven fighter aircraft.
The original X-1 was usually dropped from a modified B-29 Superfortress bomber, but the NeX-1 will probably take off from the ground. Its XLR-11 engine used liquid oxygen and ethyl alcohol.
Greason sees the plane hitting the airshow circuit and drumming up interest in private space exploration.
The company is researching plans for the X-1 at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in California and the engine at museums in the area.
One of several variations of the X-1 built, "Glamorous Glennis" now resides in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., while others are displayed at the Air Force Museum in Ohio and at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
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