Nellis Affair

Preamble

This incident takes place in the spring of 1962, where the then X-15 test pilot, Neil Armstrong is taking a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter on a flight to Delamar Dry Lake Landing Strip to test the sites feasibility as an emergency landing site for the aforementioned X-15.  The F-104 was chosen due to its ability to simulate similar landing characteristics to the X-15, in a unique configuration which called for the speed brakes to be extended, flaps lowered, landing gear deployed and engine throttled all the way back down to idle.

Initial Incident

The initial incident started at Delamar, where Neil, upon approach, misjudged the altitude at which he was in relation to the dry lake bed, on touchdown, his gear had not yet fully extended and instead started to retract.  Neil applied full power and aborted the landing attempt, however, by this point multiple parts of the aircraft had suffered damage.  The landing gear door and ventral fin had struck the ground, causing a hydraulic leak and the radio to stop working.  This is where the Nellis Air Force Base comes into the picture.

Nellis Landing and Subsequent "Affair"

Piloting an aircraft with unknown damage and not able to communicate with anybody, Neil headed towards Nellis.  Upon arrival, he flew past the control tower, 'waving' his wings, signifying a non-radio approach, and went in for a landing.  Unbeknownst to Armstrong, due to the earlier hydraulic fluid leak the tail hook had deployed, this proved an issue when upon touchdown, the hook snagged on an arresting cable attached to an anchor chain.  Subsequently the anchor chain was dragged along the runway, and caused a 30 minute downtime for the air base personnel to clear the runway and replace the arresting cable.

Once the situation was resolved at Nellis, Armstrong made a phone call to Edwards Air Force Base, requesting that somebody fly out to pick him up.  Usually this wouldn't be much of an issue, however Edwards only had a single two-seater aircraft available, an F-104, this time of the B variant.  Again this shouldn't be an issue, however the only pilot available, future X-15 test pilot Milt Thompson, had zero experience in flying on the type.

Thompson, with immense difficulty, was eventually able to make it to Nellis, however upon landing, a strong crosswind forced the gear to touch down hard, blowing a tire and closing the runway again. Another phone call went out and this time they were able to find Bill Dana, another X-15 pilot, with a T-33.  Dana's flight, comparatively, went much smoother, however upon landing, he too nearly caused the runway to close after coming close to running long.

Aftermath

3 Aircraft and 2 runway closures, Nellis had had enough, some sources state that Nellis, not wanting to cause any more interruption to operations, organised ground transport for the 3 pilots.  NASA records however, seem to contradict stating that Neil and Dana took the T-33 back to Edwards, while Milt found his way back on a visiting aircraft later on.

Ultimately, Armstrong's testing at Delamar would prove the lakes viability as an emergency landing site for the X-15, where 5 years later, a successful landing would be made, after an engine failure happened early on in a flight launched above the lake bed.