The right wing of the X-31 Enhanced Fighter Maneuverability Technology Demonstrator Aircraft is seen here being put into a shipping container May 18, 1995, at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, by U.S. and German members of the program. To fit inside an Air Force Reserve C-5 transport, which was used to ferry the X-31 to Europe on May 22, 1995, the right wing had to be removed. Manching, Germany, was used as a staging base to prepare the aircraft for participation in the Paris Air Show. At the air show on June 11 through the 18th, the X-31 demonstrated the value of using thrust vectoring (directing engine exhaust flow) coupled with advanced flight control systems to provide controlled flight at very high angles of attack. The aircraft arrived back at Edwards in an Air Force Reserve C-5 on June 25, 1995, and off loaded at Dryden the 27th. The X-31 aircraft was developed jointly by Rockwell International's North American Aircraft Division (now part of Boeing) and Daimler-Benz Aerospace (formerly Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm), under sponsorship by the U.S. Department of Defense and the German Federal Ministry of Defense.

X-31 team members perform an engine fit check on the X-31 Enhanced Fighter Maneuverability demonstrator aircraft in a hangar at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California.

The three thrust-vectoring aircraft at Edwards, California, each capable of flying at extreme angles of attack, cruise over the California desert in formation during flight in March 1994. They are, from left, NASA's F-18 High Alpha Research Vehicle (HARV), flown by the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center; the X-31, flown by the X-31 International Test Organization (ITO) at Dryden; and the Air Force F-16 Multi-Axis Thrust Vectoring (MATV) aircraft.

The three thrust-vectoring aircraft at Edwards, California, each capable of flying at extreme angles of attack, cruise over the California desert in formation during flight in March 1994. They are, from left, NASA's F-18 High Alpha Research Vehicle (HARV), flown by the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center; the X-31, flown by the X-31 International Test Organization (ITO) at Dryden; and the Air Force F-16 Multi-Axis Thrust Vectoring (MATV) aircraft.

The X-31 Enhanced Fighter Maneuverability Technology Demonstrator Aircraft, based at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, begins rolling aboard an Air Force Reserve C-5 transport which ferried it on May 22, 1995 to Europe where it was flown in the Paris Air Show in June 1995. To fit in the C-5 the right wing of the X-31 had to be removed. At the air show, the X-31 demonstrated the value of using thrust vectoring (directing engine exhaust flow) coupled with advanced flight control systems to provide controlled flight at very high angles of attack.