Editing Bell X-5 (section)

==Operational history==
Two X-5s were built (serial numbers 50-1838 and 50-1839). The first was completed 15 February 1951, and the two aircraft made their first flights on 20 June and 10 December 1951. Almost 200 flights were made at speeds up to [[Mach (speed)|Mach]] 0.9 and altitudes of {{convert|40,000|ft|m|abbr=on}}. One aircraft was lost on 14 October 1953, when it failed to recover from a spin at 60° sweepback. Air Force Captain Ray Popson died in the crash at [[Edwards Air Force Base]]. The other X-5 remained at Edwards and continued active testing until 1955, and remained in service as a chase plane until 1958.

The X-5 successfully demonstrated the advantage of a [[Variable-sweep wing|swing-wing]] design for aircraft intended to fly at a wide range of speeds. Despite the X-5's stability problems, the concept was developed to an outboard rather than inboard hinge,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Swing Wings|url=https://www.airspacemag.com/flight-today/swing-wings-9189621/|access-date=2021-07-18|website=Air & Space Magazine|language=en}}</ref> and was later successfully implemented in such aircraft as the [[General Dynamics F-111]] and [[Grumman F-14 Tomcat]], the [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23|Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-23]] and [[Mikoyan MiG-27|MiG-27]], the [[Sukhoi Su-17|Sukhoi Su-17/20/22]] and [[Sukhoi Su-24|Su-24]], the [[Tupolev Tu-22M]] and [[Tupolev Tu-160|Tu-160]], the [[Panavia Tornado]] and the [[Rockwell B-1 Lancer]].