The third aircraft built, F-107A (Serial #55-5120) made its first NACA flight on July 25, 1958. It would complete 39 more flights during 1958 and 1959 before being damaged in a takeoff accident on September 1, 1959, fortunately without injury to the pilot.
During this period a sidestick program was NACA's major accomplishment with the craft, after the proposed inlet and fin studies went by the wayside. The complex inlet, with its movable inlet ramps and variable inlet control, caused many problems and was finally positioned in a fixed mode. Engineers at NACA modified the F-107A NACA #120, with a so-called Sidestick Flight Control System. (Sidestick was the center stick, modified and moved to the side of the cockpit area and could be used with wrist motion only) This system had been planned for the upcoming X-15 program. North American refined the design and the designated X-15 test pilots gained experience before having to use it in the actual X-15 airplane.