This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history articles
This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
This article is within the scope of the Aviation WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see lists of open tasks and task forces. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.AviationWikipedia:WikiProject AviationTemplate:WikiProject Aviationaviation articles
This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
Latest comment: 1 year ago1 comment1 person in discussion
The article states that the X-16 was cancelled in favor of "the Martin RB-57 in 1956".
My understanding is that the Bell X-16 was competing with the Fairchild for the Air Force reconnaissance plane contract, and won the contract. (My father hand carried the contract to Bell Offices).
The contract was cancelled within days, due to the completion of the Lockheed U2. The U2 development, up to that point was not disclosed to the Air Force or either team competing for the contract.
https://medium.com/war-is-boring/before-the-u-2-spy-plane-there-was-the-x-16-536e17d0ae2b