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The Bell X-5 was the first aircraft capable of changing the sweep of its wings in flight. It was inspired by the untested war-time P.1101 design of the German Messerschmitt company. However, whereas the German design could only be adjusted on the ground, the Bell engineers devised a system of electric motors to adjust the sweep in flight.

The X-5 had three sweep positions: 20°, 40°, and 60°. A jack screw assembly moved the wing's hinge along a set of short horizontal rails, using disc brakes to lock the wing into its inflight positions. Moving from full extension to full sweep took less than 30 seconds. The articulation of the hinge and pivots partly compensated for the shifts in center of gravity and center of lift as the wings moved. Even so, the X-5 had vicious spin characteristics, which in some wing positions led to an irrecoverable spin--this led to the destruction of the second aircraft and the death of a test pilot.

Two X-5s were built. The first was completed 15 February 1951, and the two aircraft made their first flights on 20 June 1951 and 10 December 1951. Almost 200 flights were made at speeds up to Mach 0.9 and altitudes of 40,000 ft (12,195 m). On 14 October 1953 USAF Captain Ray Popson died in a crash at Edwards Air Force BaseEdwards Air Force Base is a base located on the border of Kern County and Los Angeles County, California in the Antelope Valley, northeast of Lancaster. It was home to many of the 20th century's most important and daring research flights and many of the w during spin testing. The other X-5 remained at Edwards until 1958This is a list of aviation-related events from 1958: Events Gulfstream Aerospace founded in Savannah, Georgia, USA. London Gatwick Airport opens after two years of extensive reconstruction. It is the first multimodal airport in the world, with direct rail, being used as a chase plane after its own research program had been completed in 1955This is a list of aviation-related events from 1955: Events February February 26 George F. Smith becomes the first person to survive a supersonic ejection, from a North American F-100 Super Sabre travelling (Mach 1. March March 10 Pakistan International A. It is now on display in the USAF Museum.

The X-5 successfully demonstrated the advantage of a swing-wingA swing-wing is a type of pivoted wing planform that attempts to combine the advantages of a swept wing at high speeds, while avoiding its problems at lower speeds. The design is successful in this respect, but the added mass and complexity are currently design for aircraft intended to fly at a wide range of speeds. Despite the X-5's stability problems, the concept was later successfully implemented in such aircraft as the General Dynamics F-111General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark Description RoleAll-weather attack Crew1 Pilot, 1 Weapons Systems Officer Dimensions Length73. 4 m Wingspan (spread)63 ft19. 2 m Wingspan (swept)31. 74 m Height17. 22 m Wing area (spread)657. 07 m² Wing area (swept)525 ft²4 and F-14 TomcatThe Grumman F-14 Tomcat is a United States Navy supersonic, twin-engine, variable sweep wing, two-seat strike fighter. The Tomcat's primary missions are air superiority, fleet air defense and precision strike against ground targets. The F-14 was developed.