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Richard E. Day, an engineer in the Dynamic Stability and Analysis Branch at the NACA High-Speed Flight Station (HSFS). Dick had been designated the HSFS program engineer for the Bell X-2 aircraft and worked closely with the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base on the project.
This is a photo of a General Electric Differential Analyzer (analog computer) fitted with an airplane stick and controls to create a simulator. The equipment belonged to the Air Force to be used as a simulator for the Bell X-2 and other research airplanes.

Dick provided the analog computer with equations of motion to study the roll-coupling of the X-2 airplane and to do reaction control studies. Simulations validated predictions from NACA wind tunnel tests on models of the X-2 airplane.

The Bell X-2 was a swept-wing, rocket-powered aircraft designed to fly faster than three times the speed of sound. Built by Bell aircraft Corporation for the NACA (now NASA) and the U.S. Air Force, it was flown to investigate the problems of aerodynamic heating as well as stability and control effectiveness at high altitudes and speeds in excess of Mach 3.