An experimental plane crashes in the desert and a classic ’70 stv series is born
It was an early version of the experimental planes that would eventually result in the Space Shuttle.
But when test pilot Bruce Peterson crashed his Northrop M2-F2 in the California desert, it was to propel an entirely different, and fictional, technological development – The Six Million Dollar Man.
Nasa had been investigating using wingless planes – which it called lifting bodies – to fly to space and back. In March, one such craft, the M2- F2, had made its first flight, attached throughout to a B52 bomber, and then in July that year it was dropped from the bomber at 45,000 feet, before gliding back to earth at speeds of up to 450mph.
A series of glide flights were then undertaken, before powered flights.
But the 16th glide flight, with Peterson at the controls, went disastrously wrong when the craft slammed into the lake-bed landing site. The problem was that the M2- F2’s tiny wings – essentially part of its body – made it much less stable than a traditional plane.
As Peterson came into land, it began rolling from side to side. He appeared to recover, but then saw a rescue helicopter which appeared to pose a collision threat. Distracted, Peterson drifted off his line, crashing into an unmarked area of the lake bed where it was impossible to judge the height over the ground.
The M2- F2 rolled over six times, coming to rest upside down. Petersen was pulled from the vehicle and rushed to hospital. He recovered but lost vision in his right eye due to a staphylococcal infection.
The crash was the inspiration for a 1972 science fiction/ secret agent novel, called Cyborg, by Martin Caidin. It was adapted as the television movie The Six Million Dollar Man, which was followed by a weekly series of the same name, both of which starred Lee Majors.
Peterson’s eye injury found its way into the book and on to the screen, with its test pilot hero, Steve Austin, losing an eye in a plane crash. But in his case, it was replaced by a camera and later, infra- red vision. Footage of the M2-F2 crash was also used in the opening credits of the series.
The TV show was to prove a huge hit, with its opening catchphrase of “We can rebuild him; we have the technology” becoming a popular catchphrase in its own right. It was also noted for its use of slow motion action sequences as a way of highlighting Austin’s extraordinary speed and power. The series became an international success, being screened in more than 70 countries, turning Majors into a popular icon.
In 1975, a two- part episode titled “The Bionic Woman”, introduced the lead character Jaime Sommers, played by Lindsay Wagner, as a professional tennis player who rekindled an old romance with Austin, only to experience a parachuting accident that resulted in her being given bionic parts similar to Austin. Ultimately, her body “rejected” her bionic hardware and she died.
The character was very popular, however, and the following season it was revealed that she had actually survived, having been saved by an experimental cryogenic procedure, and she was given her own spin-off series, The Bionic Woman.
This spin- off ran until 1978 when both it and The Six Million Dollar Man were simultaneously cancelled.