The Douglas X-3 Stiletto was a high-speed research jet plane manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company. Its primary mission was to investigate the design features of an aircraft suitable to maintain supersonic speeds, which included the first use of titanium in the main components of the structure.
Under the direction of Research and Development Command of the U.S. Air Force and the joint sponsorship of the U.S. Navy, USAF and NACA, Douglas Aircraft designed and developed a high-speed research.
Designed primarily to investigate problems of high altitude flight and high speed, and the consequences of kinetic heat, the X-3 design stage began in 1945.
The complexity of this program is indicated in the fact that it took more than three years until they got approval for the construction of a model (August 1948), and only in late 1949 Douglas received a contract for two prototypes designed to flight test and static test cell, in fact only came to build a prototype.
The X-3, which made its first flight on October 20, 1952, had a slender fuselage with needle-nose, wing cantilever monoplane low-set and small-scale, conventional tail, retractable landing gear and power plant consists of two Westinghouse turbojet J34-WE-17 mounted side by side in the fuselage. The pilot was in a pressurized cabin in a downward ejection seat which also served as electric lift to enable access on land. The design of the X-3 was unprecedented complexity due to the high speed required, involving advanced aerodynamics and the use of new materials and construction methods, in particular, had to be developed manufacturing techniques which included the use of titanium . Cell addition was over 850 minute holes distributed throughout the area to record pressure, indicators 185 loads and stresses, and 150 points for registration of temperatures.
