science · 14 October 1947 · 77 years ago
In 1947, Chuck Yeager, a WW II fighter pilot, became the first human to fly faster than the speed of sound, breaking through the sound barrier in a rocket powered Bell XS-1 airplane over Murac Dry Lake, California. The four rocket motors of this tiny needle-nosed research craft could gulp an entire supply of fuel in 2-1/2 minutes. To save fuel, the Bell XS-1 was carried aloft by a B-29 then released, and Yeager fired its rockets. At 37,000 feet the X-1 flew well, but began to buffet as it approached the sound barrier. When an airplane travels at the speed of sound the air particles ahead are compressed into an invisible “wall of thick air.” Others flying with less powerful engines could not push through this wall, with hazardous and deadly results. Yeager succeeded.
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