This photo was taken June 18, 1956 on Rogers Dry Lakebed after Flight 7 of the Bell Aircraft Corporation X-1E with NACA High-Speed Flight Station test pilot Joseph ‘Joe’ Walker at the controls. The first generation X-1s were well known for nose gear failures and the X-1E was no exception. The hard pitch down on landing usually resulted in a collapsed nose gear. The damage rarely was serious but required several days of down-time for repair. The X-1E was the only one to have a true tail skid to protect the empennage from over-rotation during landing.