Eduardo M.
October 14th 15, 04:19 PM
October 14, 1947: Yeager breaks sound barrier
> U.S. Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager becomes the first person to
> fly faster than the speed of sound.
>
> Yeager, born in Myra, West Virginia, in 1923, was a combat
> fighter during World War II and flew 64 missions over Europe. He
> shot down 13 German planes and was himself shot down over France,
> but he escaped capture with the assistance of the French
> Underground. After the war, he was among several volunteers chosen
> to test-fly the experimental X-1 rocket plane, built by the Bell
> Aircraft Company to explore the possibility of supersonic flight.
>
> For years, many aviators believed that man was not meant to fly
> faster than the speed of sound, theorizing that transonic drag
> rise would tear any aircraft apart. All that changed on October
> 14, 1947, when Yeager flew the X-1 over Rogers Dry Lake in
> Southern California. The X-1 was lifted to an altitude of 25,000
> feet by a B-29 aircraft and then released through the bomb bay,
> rocketing to 40,000 feet and exceeding 662 miles per hour (the
> sound barrier at that altitude). The rocket plane, nicknamed
> ?8220;Glamorous Glennis,?8221; was designed with thin, unswept
> wings and a streamlined fuselage modeled after a .50-caliber
> bullet.
>
> Because of the secrecy of the project, Bell and Yeager?8217;s
> achievement was not announced until June 1948. Yeager continued to
> serve as a test pilot, and in 1953 he flew 1,650 miles per hour in
> an X-1A rocket plane. He retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1975
> with the rank of brigadier general.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/yeager-breaks-sound-barrier
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news.alt119.net / www.alt119.net
....
> U.S. Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager becomes the first person to
> fly faster than the speed of sound.
>
> Yeager, born in Myra, West Virginia, in 1923, was a combat
> fighter during World War II and flew 64 missions over Europe. He
> shot down 13 German planes and was himself shot down over France,
> but he escaped capture with the assistance of the French
> Underground. After the war, he was among several volunteers chosen
> to test-fly the experimental X-1 rocket plane, built by the Bell
> Aircraft Company to explore the possibility of supersonic flight.
>
> For years, many aviators believed that man was not meant to fly
> faster than the speed of sound, theorizing that transonic drag
> rise would tear any aircraft apart. All that changed on October
> 14, 1947, when Yeager flew the X-1 over Rogers Dry Lake in
> Southern California. The X-1 was lifted to an altitude of 25,000
> feet by a B-29 aircraft and then released through the bomb bay,
> rocketing to 40,000 feet and exceeding 662 miles per hour (the
> sound barrier at that altitude). The rocket plane, nicknamed
> ?8220;Glamorous Glennis,?8221; was designed with thin, unswept
> wings and a streamlined fuselage modeled after a .50-caliber
> bullet.
>
> Because of the secrecy of the project, Bell and Yeager?8217;s
> achievement was not announced until June 1948. Yeager continued to
> serve as a test pilot, and in 1953 he flew 1,650 miles per hour in
> an X-1A rocket plane. He retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1975
> with the rank of brigadier general.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/yeager-breaks-sound-barrier
--
news.alt119.net / www.alt119.net
....