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Outer Limits X-15
& Other Stock Film
Web site by: Phil
Broad
The Outer Limits often times made use of "stock film" when convienent. The first row of images above show several interesting "stock shots". The first on the left is believed to be the X-15 in flight as seen from the ground cameras at Edwards AFB. The second shot got used many times in the series but is something of a mystery. It shows what appears to be a rocket powered winged vehicle climbing and diving as if under human control. It almost looks like a Bomarc missile but it has four exhaust plumes, the Bomarc would only have two. Any reader who can shed more light on this, please contact us let us know. The last two shots are the standard scenes of a WWII German V-2 (A-4) rocket being test fired from Pruf Stand 7 at Peenemunde on the baltic coast. The last image on the right is actually film of a famous V-2 crash where, during a demonstration for high ranking Nazis officials, two V-2s were launched, one after the other. Unfortunately for the German rocket team, the first rocket failed when it reached an altitude of several thousand feet then proceeding to plummet back to earth, crashing into the nearby Luftwaffe base and destroying several He111 bombers parked on the field. The film of that rockets terminal descent has been double exposed here with art work of the Earth as seen from orbit. The first image on the left of the second row is a stock shot of the US V-2 test site control bunker at LC-33 (Launch Complex 33) at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. This bunker is seen often in this show and in many other TV series and movies. The complex itself is now a historical monument which may be visited by making arrangements with the WSMR Public Affairs Officer (PAO) at the base.
The remaining images are from "The
Premonition" which features a main character who is in the middle of
a X-15 test flight when he finds himself suddenly "out of sync"
with time. This episode makes good use of a great many stock X-15 sequences.
At least two different paint schemes are seen on the B-52B mothership 003
("The High and the Mighty") and an unknown number of X-15s are seen
(there were three built). All the X-15s appear to be the later version with
the throttleable XLR-99 engine. The nose section used for the crash scene
is something of a curiosity too. It appears to be something the studio got
from the Air Force, rather than something they built themselves. It seems
to be made out of metal and includes the specially built X-15 ejection seat.
Only the nose section is "X-15", the aft fuselage here is made up
of bits of aircraft junk, most noteably what looks like the engine cowling
from Martin 404 propellor driven airliner (or..?). Because the factory mockups
of the X-15 were made of wood and would not have been found at Edwards AFB,
it is possible that what we see here is the forward fuselage section built
to test fire ejection seats at speed while being propelled by a rocket sled
on a track. This is just the sort of thing that may have been laying disused
at the base when the film company arrived and they could have arranged to
purchase it or simply borrow it for a time. If this is true, it is possible
that an important X-15 program artifact is floating around Hollywood somewhere.
If anyone knows further details about this issue, please let us know. The
Test Flight Museum at Edwards AFB would surely want to know if this item still
exists.