Lot 555
United States, 1949, "Vultee 7002 / XF-92" Test Flight Cover. This cover has a typed/handwritten cachet that reads, in part: "Flown on a Test Flight of the Consolidated Vultee 7002 Jet Research Plane, the Delts triangle Wing round trip from Muroc AFB on March 17, 1949 by pilot W. J. Martin." The cover is addressed to pioneer aviation/space dealer Harry A. Gordon and has a blue add-on "USAF Jet Air Mail" label and a Muroc machine cancel. Only 4 covers are recorded as having been flown. The cover is slit open on two sides.
Stimulated by captured German delta wing research from WW II, the model 7002 was built as a flying mock-up to investigate behavior at low and subsonic speeds for a delta wing interceptor. Though the XF-92 program was cancelled in 1948, the Model 7002 was prepared to fly. The plane was delivered to Muroc AFB in April 1948 and its first flight was made on June 9th by pilot Sam Shannon. The first official Phase I test flight was made on September 18, 1948 and continued till August 1949. All Phase I flights were flown by Shannon and William Martin. With the final testing concluded on August 26th, the plane was turned over to the Air Force for Phase II testing by Major Chuck Yeager and the plane was given the Air Force designation XF-92A. Yeager made his first Phase II test flight on October 13 (one day short of two years after his Mach 1 flight). The last test flight of Phase II was completed on Sept. 28, 1949 by Maj. Frank Everett. The plane had a long and storied flight history after this point and it led to the development of the F-102 and F-106 interceptors and the B-58 bomber among other planes.
An extremely important cover that is unlisted in the E-Z Rocket Mail catalog.
Estimated Value $350 - 500.
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