Welded Steel-Tube Fuselage Framework of Hall X-1 Under Construction (1928)

The uncovered welded tubular steel fuselage frame and turtledeck of the Hall X-1 under construction inside a wooden workshop. — Welded Steel-Tube Fuselage Framework of Hall X-1 Under Construction (1928) · Donald A. Hall Estate Collection

Preserved from Donald A. Hall Sr.'s private engineering workshop in San Diego, this rare negative documents the bare structural skeleton of the Hall X-1 prototype during initial assembly. The frame illustrates Hall's mastery of welded chrome-molybdenum steel tubing, showing the Warren-truss fuselage sides, cockpit coamings, forward wing root attach points, and integral vertical fin framing. This structural design provided high torsional rigidity to support the tandem lifting loads dictated by Hall's U.S. Patent 1,895,458.