19671776 Club
Peterson walks away after M2-F2 rolls six times on the lake bed; the lifting body is a wreck
A rescue helicopter drew his eye at the wrong moment, a crosswind caught the craft, and the gear was still unlocked when the Northrop ship hit the ground at Edwards.
On May 10, 1967, test pilot Bruce Peterson brought the Northrop M2-F2 lifting body in for what should have been a routine glide landing on a California lake bed. A rescue helicopter caught his attention at the wrong moment, a crosswind pushed him onto unmarked ground, and the aircraft hit before the landing gear locked. The M2-F2 rolled six times. Peterson survived — barely — and the footage of his wreck eventually convinced a television producer that he had found the perfect opening for a science fiction series about a man rebuilt from the wreckage…
