History Channel
Talking about "The Sound Barrier" as a work of fiction showing the British
achieving supersonic flight, I seem to recall reading/hearing somewhere that
in actual fact the British were well advanced in researching this and had
designed and built an aeroplane - the Miles M52 I think - which could well
have achieved this. Then the US and British Governments decided they would
pool their research to achieve it. So the British handed over all their
info to the US who then refused to hand over their info, due to "security
reasons". The British did not proceed any further but the US continued on
(now with the benefit of all the British research and design) and eventually
produce the Bell X-1 - which looks suspiciously like the Miles M52 - and do
the deed!
For military movie fiction you can't "The Sound Barrier"
showing the British being the first to achieve supersonic
flight.
I remember seeing "The Sound Barrier" in the year of its release, and my
memories of it stretch back that far. If you have access to a VHS or DVD
home version, please correct me ... but ... the film presents a
disclaimer
that it is a piece of fiction, and if despite that it seems more truthful
than most works of fiction then that may be due to the skill of the
director, David Lean; it was acknowledged in the film that the sound
barrier
had already been overcome by an American aviator, without, as I remember,
any mention being made that the American aircraft was not jet- but
rocket-powered; and the whole thing is really about Geoffrey de
Havilland's
fatal semi-success in the DH 108 Swallow, when he tickled Mach 1 but
didn't
survive.
--
Moving things in still pictures!
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