science · 12 December 1953 · 71 years ago
In 1953, an aircraft first reached the speed of 2-1/2 times the speed of sound (2.5 mach). Chuck Yeager established the record flying a Bell X-1A, a slightly larger, much modified version of the Bell X-1. It was carried aloft to launching altitude by a B-29 to conserve its 4 minutes of rocket fuel. On this flight, the first ever instance of inertia-coupling (then called "high-speed instability") occurred. The airplane tumbled violently - about all three axes - for more than 40,000 feet before Yeager was able to begin to recover to wings-level, stable flight. This was a terrifying incident in which the skill of the pilot saved his life and the aircraft. Only 22 days before, 20 Nov 1953, Scott Crossfield had been the first to reach mach 2.01 in a Navy D-558-II.
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