He took the X-1 right up to the sound barrier and flew straight on through. “They knew it was stable, because a high-powered bullet is accurate, which means we can fly straight,” he says.Īfter 50 test flights - and some key modifications - that’s exactly what Air Force Pilot Chuck Yeager did on October 14, 1947. He is the National Air and Space Museum Curator of Special Purpose Aircraft. 50 caliber bullet, and that became the fuselage shape of the X-1,” Bob van der Linden tells Inverse. “They took the bullet shape of an M-2 Browning machine gun bullet, a. It would be called the X-1 and the company’s engineers took their inspiration from a known success. Air Force) and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (the forerunner of NASA) asked Bell Aviation to build an experimental aircraft to explore the aerodynamics of flight near the speed of sound. Army Air Force (the forerunner of the U.S. High-powered bullets did it all the time.īut whether or not you could do it in an airplane - well, that was a whole different question. He holds a photograph of the Bell X-1 aircraft in which he became the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound on October 14, 1947.The thing about the sound barrier in the 1940s was that everyone in aviation knew that it was theoretically possible to travel faster than sound. Col. Yeager made aeronautical history on October 14, 1947, when he piloted the Bell X-1 aircraft in the world first supersonic flight.” Local photo ID: 342-B-135 USAF ( NAID 175539641) Original Caption: “Col. Charles E. Yeager, Commandant of the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School at the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB, Calif., poses with a model of the North American X-15 high-speed, high-altitude research aircraft. Local photo ID: 342-P-YEAGER(C)(OFF) ( NAID 542371) Original Caption: “Col. Charles E. Yeager, Commandant of the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School at the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB, Calif. Official portrait of Brigadier General Charles E. Yeager. James Fitzgerald.” Local photo ID: 342-C-K-5035 Original Caption: “Photograph of the X-1, the first manned aircraft to go faster than the speed of sound.” Control Number: NRHL-255-DRY1-X1PHOTOS-6 ( NAID 295650). The aircraft are: 1) Northrop X-4 2) Convair XF-92A Delta 3) North American T-28A 4) Lockheed F-80 5) Republic F-84F 6) North American F-86D 7) Northrop F-89 8) Lockheed F-94C 9) Boeing B-47 10) North American B-45 11) Boeing KC-97 12) Convair B-36D.” Local photo ID: 342-C-K-6995 Original Caption: “Standing left to right alongside of a Bell XS-1 are: Capt. General Stanley Holtoner, Center Commander (E) Lt. Charles Yeager, first man to fly faster than sound (B) Maj. Yeager is standing at the right in a group of five individuals at the cockpit canopy, wearing an overseas cap and jacket with a fur collar.” Local photo ID: 342-C-K-5028 Original Caption: “Research and development test aircraft and crack test pilots of the Air Force Flight Test Center are marshalled on the sun baked surface of Rogers Lake which has several hundred million dollars in emergency landings. Yeager who piloted the X-1 in its first supersonic flight in October 1947. Air Force, before being carried aloft for a test flight. The X-1 is built by Bell Aircraft.” Local photo ID: 342-C-K-4921 Original Caption: “The Bell X-1 supersonic research aircraft undergoes servicing at Muroc Air Force Base, California, flight test center of the U.S. All are assigned to the Flight Test Division, Air Material Command. Charles Yeager, first to fly through the sonic barrier Major Gus Lundquist, and Capt. Air Force test pilots, all of whom have flown faster than the speed of sound, pose beside the Air Force’s supersonic X-1 aircraft at Muroc Air Force Base, California. Photo taken May 1948 by James Evans.” Local photo ID: 342-C-K-5027 Original Caption: “Three U.S. Charles Yeager, Air Force pilot who was the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound, is shown in the cockpit of the Bell X-1 supersonic research aircraft at Muroc Air Force Base, California. As Yeager passed through the sound threshold, a sonic boom was heard across the Mojave desert.Īs we approach the 75th anniversary of breaking the sound barrier, the Unwritten Record has compiled photographs held in the Still Picture Branch that document Captain Yeager and the historic achievement. The X-1 reached a speed of 700 miles per hour and an altitude of 43,000 feet. Yeager flew a Bell XS-1, nicknamed “Glamorous Glennis” (a tribute to his wife), over Rogers Dry Lake located at Edward’s Air Force Base (formerly named Muroc Air Force Base). “Chuck” Yeager became the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound. On October 14, 1947, USAF Captain Charles E.
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