{"id":9737670,"date":"2026-08-05T17:28:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T15:28:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/m2-f2-lifting-body-six-million-dollar-man-crash\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T17:29:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T15:29:02","slug":"m2-f2-lifting-body-six-million-dollar-man-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/m2-f2-lifting-body-six-million-dollar-man-crash\/","title":{"rendered":"The Crash You&#8217;ve Seen a Hundred Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\r\n<p>You have almost certainly seen this crash, even if you have never heard of the aircraft. A stubby, wingless machine tumbles end over end across a desert lakebed, throwing up a cloud of dust, and comes to rest upside down. For millions of people, that few seconds of film was the opening of a 1970s television show. For NASA, it was a very real accident that a very real test pilot barely survived.<\/p>\r\n<p>The aircraft was the Northrop M2-F2, one of the strangest research craft ever flown &mdash; a plane with no wings at all. And the story behind that famous footage is far more remarkable than the fiction it inspired.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;padding:20px;border-radius:8px;margin:24px 0\">\r\n<p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;font-size:18px\">Quick Facts<\/p>\r\n<ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:18px;line-height:1.8\">\r\n<li><strong>Aircraft:<\/strong> Northrop M2-F2, a wingless &ldquo;lifting body&rdquo; research craft<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>Operator:<\/strong> NASA and the U.S. Air Force, flown from Edwards, California<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>Purpose:<\/strong> prove a wingless craft could glide home from space &mdash; a step toward the Space Shuttle<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>How it flew:<\/strong> air-launched from a B-52 at 45,000 feet; it was a glider, with one chance to land<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>The crash:<\/strong> 10 May 1967, pilot Bruce Peterson; it rolled six times across a dry lakebed<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>The pilot:<\/strong> survived, lost his right eye &mdash; and returned to test flying<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>The fame:<\/strong> the crash footage opened the 1970s TV series <em>The Six Million Dollar Man<\/em><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">A plane with no wings<\/h2>\r\n<p>In the 1960s, NASA faced a hard question: how do you bring a spacecraft home from orbit and land it gently on a runway? Wings would help it glide &mdash; but wings also create drag, and at the blistering speeds of atmospheric reentry, drag means heat, enough to burn a wing clean off. The radical answer was to get rid of the wings entirely.<\/p>\r\n<p>A &ldquo;lifting body&rdquo; generates its small amount of lift from the shape of its fuselage itself &mdash; a half-cone modelled on the blunt reentry capsules of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. The M2-F2 was exactly that: a wingless, blunt-nosed wedge with fins, air-launched from beneath the wing of a B-52 at 45,000 feet. It was, in the end, a glider &mdash; and a brutal one. It plunged at around 15,000 feet per minute, and the pilot got precisely one attempt at landing. There was no going around.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/50dDWT48b9M\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;border-radius:8px\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;font-style:italic;text-align:center\">NASA&rsquo;s wingless lifting bodies &mdash; the M2-F2, HL-10 and M2-F3 &mdash; in flight over the California desert.<\/p>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The flight that went wrong<\/h2>\r\n<p>The M2-F2 had a known vice: a violent side-to-side rolling oscillation that appeared when the nose was lowered. Milt Thompson had met it first and managed it; an Air Force pilot, Jerauld Gentry, had met it next and nearly died. On 10 May 1967, Bruce Peterson&rsquo;s job was to fly straight into that danger zone and study it.<\/p>\r\n<p>A crosswind pushed him off line right after launch. As he pushed the nose over on final approach, the oscillation returned with a fury.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;When I pushed over, the nose of the aircraft just slid out to the right. I tried to counter that with rudder to bring the nose back and the airplane went into severe lateral oscillations and was uncontrollable, with very high rates and very high bank angles.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Bruce Peterson<\/strong> &mdash; NASA research pilot, M2-F2<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>Peterson wrestled it back under control, but he had drifted away from the marked landing zone onto a featureless expanse of white salt with no visual cues for height. Then a rescue helicopter loomed directly in his path. Dodging it, distracted, robbed of his altitude references, he struck the lakebed at more than 200 miles per hour &mdash; a split second before his landing gear had fully locked down. The M2-F2 reared up, slammed down again, and rolled six times before sliding to a halt on its back. The canopy was torn away; only the absence of any fuel on board prevented a fire.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img data-opt-id=612226179  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/m2-f2-crash-rogers-lake.jpg\" alt=\"The wrecked M2-F2 upside down on Rogers Dry Lake\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block;border-radius:6px\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The M2-F2 came to rest inverted on Rogers Dry Lake, 10 May 1967. This is the wreck seen in the opening of The Six Million Dollar Man. Photo: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The man who lived<\/h2>\r\n<p>Peterson should not have survived. He suffered a fractured skull, lost the sight in his right eye to a later infection, and spent months in reconstructive surgery. What saved him was, of all things, the tumbling itself.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;That tumbling motion dissipated a lot of the energy of the accident. We actually had accelerometers attached to his body on that flight, and the maximum G-force he saw during the crash was only 4G.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Milt Thompson<\/strong> &mdash; NASA test pilot and eyewitness<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>Then came the strangest twist of all. In 1973, television producers building a series about a rebuilt-superhuman test pilot reached for real NASA footage to open the show. They chose the M2-F2 crash. And so, week after week, audiences around the world watched Bruce Peterson&rsquo;s worst day as the title sequence of <em>The Six Million Dollar Man<\/em> &mdash; while Peterson himself, very much not bionic, simply went back to work.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hZPetOOPJ0s\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;border-radius:8px\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;font-style:italic;text-align:center\">The actual NASA crash film that became the opening of <em>The Six Million Dollar Man<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The wingless idea that reached orbit<\/h2>\r\n<p>Peterson kept flying for NASA &mdash; with a black eye patch and a dry sense of humour about it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;There was a ready market for one-eyed test pilots.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Bruce Peterson<\/strong> &mdash; on returning to test flying after losing an eye<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>The M2-F2 was rebuilt with an extra fin as the M2-F3 and flew 27 more times, many of its profiles echoing what the Space Shuttle would later do. The wingless lifting bodies proved the point they had been built to make: a craft with almost no wings really could be flown down through the atmosphere and landed on a runway. Every Shuttle that glided home, and every winged spaceplane since, owes something to a handful of oddly-shaped gliders &mdash; and to the pilot whose crash the whole world watched without knowing his name.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img data-opt-id=1618672775  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/m2-f2-b52-mothership.jpg\" alt=\"The M2-F2 mounted under the wing of its B-52 mothership\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block;border-radius:6px\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The M2-F2 was carried aloft under the wing of a B-52 and released at altitude to glide home. Photo: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JrETaU9wfho\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;border-radius:8px\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;font-style:italic;text-align:center\">Archive film of the Northrop M2-F2 lifting-body programme.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-style:italic;color:#555;margin-top:20px\">Sources: NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center; Nigel Macknight interview with Bruce Peterson (Spaceflight News); Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum; R. Dale Reed, &ldquo;Wingless Flight&rdquo; (NASA).<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0\">\r\n<p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/x-20-dyna-soar-spaceplane-cancelled-1963\/\">The Space Bomber That Never Flew: X-20 Dyna-Soar<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/x-37b-space-force-mystery-spaceplane\/\">The Space Force&rsquo;s Mystery Spaceplane<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/manned-orbiting-laboratory-mol-spy-station\/\">The Secret Space Station With Secret Astronauts<\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You have almost certainly seen this crash, even if you have never heard of the aircraft. A stubby, wingless machine tumbles end over end across a desert lakebed, throwing up a cloud of dust, and comes to rest upside down. For millions of people, that few seconds of film was the opening of a 1970s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":9737089,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[665,666],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9737670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world","category-history-and-legends"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>M2-F2 Lifting Body: The Six Million Dollar Man Crash<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The M2-F2 lifting body crash opened The Six Million Dollar Man. The real story of NASA&#039;s wingless spaceplane and the pilot who survived six rolls.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/m2-f2-lifting-body-six-million-dollar-man-crash\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"M2-F2 Lifting Body: The Six Million Dollar Man Crash\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The M2-F2 lifting body crash opened The Six Million Dollar Man. The real story of NASA&#039;s wingless spaceplane and the pilot who survived six rolls.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/m2-f2-lifting-body-six-million-dollar-man-crash\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Afterburner - MiGFlug&#039;s Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MiGFlug\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-05T15:28:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-05T15:29:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:1280\/h:1025\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/m2-f2-landing-chase.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1025\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Connor Kerr\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@migflug\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@migflug\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Connor Kerr\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/fr\\\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/fr\\\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Connor Kerr\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bc7f2d09b1d7111c45fdb1335b8f2cf9\"},\"headline\":\"The Crash You&#8217;ve Seen a Hundred Times\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-05T15:28:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-05T15:29:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/fr\\\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1074,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/fr\\\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\/\\/migflug.com\\/afterburner\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/sites\\/4\\/2026\\/08\\/m2-f2-landing-chase.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Aviation World\",\"History &amp; Legends\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/fr\\\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/fr\\\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/fr\\\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\\\/\",\"name\":\"M2-F2 Lifting Body: The Six Million Dollar Man Crash\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/fr\\\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/fr\\\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\/\\/migflug.com\\/afterburner\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/sites\\/4\\/2026\\/08\\/m2-f2-landing-chase.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-05T15:28:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-05T15:29:02+00:00\",\"description\":\"The M2-F2 lifting body crash opened The Six Million Dollar Man. The real story of NASA&#39;s wingless spaceplane and the pilot who survived six rolls.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/fr\\\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/fr\\\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/fr\\\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\/\\/migflug.com\\/afterburner\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/sites\\/4\\/2026\\/08\\/m2-f2-landing-chase.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\/\\/migflug.com\\/afterburner\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/sites\\/4\\/2026\\/08\\/m2-f2-landing-chase.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":1025,\"caption\":\"M2-F2 landing with F-104 chase plane\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/fr\\\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Startseite\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Crash You&#8217;ve Seen a Hundred Times\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/\",\"name\":\"Afterburner - MiGFlug's Magazine\",\"description\":\"for those interested in flying military jets and aviation related  topics\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"MiGFlug GmbH\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\/\\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\\/cb:0e0_.b970\\/w:897\\/h:278\\/q:mauto\\/ig:avif\\/https:\\/\\/migflug.com\\/afterburner\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/sites\\/4\\/2026\\/06\\/MIGFLUG_LOGO-no-background.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\/\\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\\/cb:0e0_.b970\\/w:897\\/h:278\\/q:mauto\\/ig:avif\\/https:\\/\\/migflug.com\\/afterburner\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/sites\\/4\\/2026\\/06\\/MIGFLUG_LOGO-no-background.png\",\"width\":897,\"height\":278,\"caption\":\"MiGFlug GmbH\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/MiGFlug\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/migflug\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/migflug\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/MiGFlug\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/migflug.com\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pinterest.ch\\\/migflug\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bc7f2d09b1d7111c45fdb1335b8f2cf9\",\"name\":\"Connor Kerr\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed6d7365eb237a1c91b800bf8dfeb14b8e30a3712ed7fec9e18a70088fc423a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed6d7365eb237a1c91b800bf8dfeb14b8e30a3712ed7fec9e18a70088fc423a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed6d7365eb237a1c91b800bf8dfeb14b8e30a3712ed7fec9e18a70088fc423a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Connor Kerr\"},\"description\":\"Connor Kerr writes MiGFlug\u2019s long-form features \u2014 aviation history, how-it-works explainers and the stories behind the headlines.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/author\\\/connorkerr\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"M2-F2 Lifting Body: The Six Million Dollar Man Crash","description":"The M2-F2 lifting body crash opened The Six Million Dollar Man. The real story of NASA&#39;s wingless spaceplane and the pilot who survived six rolls.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/m2-f2-lifting-body-six-million-dollar-man-crash\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"M2-F2 Lifting Body: The Six Million Dollar Man Crash","og_description":"The M2-F2 lifting body crash opened The Six Million Dollar Man. The real story of NASA&#39;s wingless spaceplane and the pilot who survived six rolls.","og_url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/m2-f2-lifting-body-six-million-dollar-man-crash\/","og_site_name":"Afterburner - MiGFlug's Magazine","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MiGFlug\/","article_published_time":"2026-08-05T15:28:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-05T15:29:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":1025,"url":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:1280\/h:1025\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/m2-f2-landing-chase.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Connor Kerr","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@migflug","twitter_site":"@migflug","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Connor Kerr","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\/"},"author":{"name":"Connor Kerr","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/#\/schema\/person\/bc7f2d09b1d7111c45fdb1335b8f2cf9"},"headline":"The Crash You&#8217;ve Seen a Hundred Times","datePublished":"2026-08-05T15:28:34+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-05T15:29:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\/"},"wordCount":1074,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/m2-f2-landing-chase.jpg","articleSection":["Aviation World","History &amp; Legends"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\/","url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\/","name":"M2-F2 Lifting Body: The Six Million Dollar Man Crash","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/m2-f2-landing-chase.jpg","datePublished":"2026-08-05T15:28:34+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-05T15:29:02+00:00","description":"The M2-F2 lifting body crash opened The Six Million Dollar Man. The real story of NASA&#39;s wingless spaceplane and the pilot who survived six rolls.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/m2-f2-landing-chase.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/m2-f2-landing-chase.jpg","width":1280,"height":1025,"caption":"M2-F2 landing with F-104 chase plane"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/m2-f2-levage-de-corps-de-lhomme-a-six-millions-de-dollars-accident\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Startseite","item":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Crash You&#8217;ve Seen a Hundred Times"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/#website","url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/","name":"Afterburner - MiGFlug's Magazine","description":"for those interested in flying military jets and aviation related  topics","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/#organization","name":"MiGFlug GmbH","url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:897\/h:278\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/MIGFLUG_LOGO-no-background.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:897\/h:278\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/MIGFLUG_LOGO-no-background.png","width":897,"height":278,"caption":"MiGFlug GmbH"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MiGFlug\/","https:\/\/x.com\/migflug","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/migflug\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MiGFlug","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/migflug.com\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.ch\/migflug\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/#\/schema\/person\/bc7f2d09b1d7111c45fdb1335b8f2cf9","name":"Connor Kerr","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed6d7365eb237a1c91b800bf8dfeb14b8e30a3712ed7fec9e18a70088fc423a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed6d7365eb237a1c91b800bf8dfeb14b8e30a3712ed7fec9e18a70088fc423a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed6d7365eb237a1c91b800bf8dfeb14b8e30a3712ed7fec9e18a70088fc423a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Connor Kerr"},"description":"Connor Kerr writes MiGFlug\u2019s long-form features \u2014 aviation history, how-it-works explainers and the stories behind the headlines.","url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/author\/connorkerr\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9737670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9737670"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9737670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9737685,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9737670\/revisions\/9737685"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9737089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9737670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9737670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9737670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}