"""Airacobra"" and P-63 ""Kingcobra"" fighter aircraft during World War II. Their P-59 ""Airacomet"" fighter was America's first jet-powered aircraft. Postwar, the company produced the Bell X-1, the first aircraft to break the sound barrier in level flight. The company began developing helicopters in 1941, with the Bell 30 taking its maiden flight in 1943. This early model evolved into the Bell 47, one of the most recognizable aircraft in history. For his role in the X-1's first supersonic flight, he shared the 1947 Collier Trophy with pilot Chuck Yeager and John Stack, a research scientist with the National Advisory Committee"
"#46-062, which he had christened ""Glamorous Glennis"". The rocket-powered aircraft was launched from the bomb bay of a specially modified B-29 and glided to a landing on a runway. XS-1 flight number 50 is the first one where the X-1 recorded supersonic flight, at Mach 1.06 (361 m/s, 1,299 km/h, 807.2 mph) peak speed; however, Yeager and many other personnel believe Flight #49 (also with Yeager piloting), which reached a top recorded speed of Mach 0.997 (339 m/s, 1,221 km/h), may have, in fact, exceeded Mach 1. (The measurements were not accurate to three significant figures and no sonic boom"
"using the end of a broom handle as an extra lever, to allow Yeager to seal the hatch. Yeager broke the sound barrier on , 1947, flying the X-1 ""Glamorous Glennis"" at Mach 1.07 at an altitude of (). over the Rogers Dry Lake in the Mojave Desert. The success of the mission was not announced to the public until June 1948. Yeager was awarded the Mackay Trophy and the Collier Trophy in 1948 for his mach-transcending flight, and the Harmon International Trophy in 1954. The X-1 he flew that day was later put on permanent display at the Smithsonian"
"Milburn G. Apt Milburn G. ""Mel"" Apt (April 9, 1924 – September 27, 1956) was a US test pilot, and the first man to attain speeds faster than Mach 3. He was killed in the destruction of the Bell X-2 during the record-setting flight that exceeded Mach 3. Apt was born April 9, 1924, in Buffalo, Wilson County, Kansas, to parents Oley Glen Apt (1891–1975) and Ada Willoughby Apt (1896–1987). He graduated from Buffalo High School in 1942. He joined the U.S. Army Air Forces immediately, was sent to flight school, and was commissioned in February 1944. He served with"
"Chalmers Goodlin Chalmers Hubert Goodlin (January 2, 1923 – October 20, 2005) was the second test pilot of the Bell X-1 supersonic rocket plane, and the first to operate the craft in powered flight (the others having been glide tests). He was the pilot of the project's second plane, and nearly broke the sound barrier. Goodlin was born on January 2, 1923, in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. He began learning to fly at the age of 15, and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941 on his eighteenth birthday, inspired by the tremendous air battles over the English Channel in early"
"utilized the information to initiate work on the Bell X-1. The final version of the Bell X-1 was very similar in design to the original Miles M.52 version. Also featuring the all-moving tail, the XS-1 was later known as the X-1. It was in the X-1 that Chuck Yeager was credited with being the first person to break the sound barrier in level flight on October 14, 1947, flying at an altitude of 45,000 ft (13.7 km). George Welch made a plausible but officially unverified claim to have broken the sound barrier on 1 October 1947, while flying an XP-86"
"Goodlin was portrayed by William Russ in the 1983 film version of ""The Right Stuff"". Chalmers Goodlin Chalmers Hubert Goodlin (January 2, 1923 – October 20, 2005) was the second test pilot of the Bell X-1 supersonic rocket plane, and the first to operate the craft in powered flight (the others having been glide tests). He was the pilot of the project's second plane, and nearly broke the sound barrier. Goodlin was born on January 2, 1923, in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. He began learning to fly at the age of 15, and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941 on"
"war, Yeager became a test pilot of many types of aircraft, including experimental rocket-powered aircraft. As the first human to officially break the sound barrier, on , 1947, he flew the experimental Bell X-1 at Mach 1 at an altitude of (), for which he won both the Collier and Mackay trophies in 1948. He then went on to break several other speed and altitude records. Yeager later commanded fighter squadrons and wings in Germany, and in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, and in recognition of the outstanding performance ratings of those units he was promoted to brigadier general."
"Postal Service issued a fiftieth anniversary commemorative stamp recognizing the Bell X1-6062 aircraft as the first aeronautical vehicle to fly at supersonic speed of approximately . Later variants of the X-1 were built to test different aspects of supersonic flight; one of these, the X-1A, with Yeager at the controls, inadvertently demonstrated a very dangerous characteristic of fast (Mach 2 plus) supersonic flight: inertia coupling. Only Yeager's skills as an aviator prevented disaster; later Mel Apt would lose his life testing the Bell X-2 under similar circumstances. Ordered by the Air Force on 2 April 1948, the X-1A (serial 48-1384)"
"the first attempt to exceed the speed of sound in the Bell X-1. That assignment, however, went to Capt. Chuck Yeager. Edwards was, instead, selected to be among the first to be sent to Princeton University for graduate study in the aeronautical sciences. The recent war had spawned truly revolutionary advances in aviation technology and it had become apparent to men such as Col. Albert Boyd, the chief of the Flight Test Division, that a new breed of military test pilot – one who combined the talents of a highly skilled pilot with the technical expertise of an engineer –"
"the command pilot for the B-29 Superfortress that launched the X-1 experimental rocket plane in which Charles E. Yeager became the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound. In 1948, then-Major Cardenas was the Officer in Charge of Flight Test Division at Muroc Air Force Base and was Chief Air Force Test Pilot of the Northrop YB-49 flying wing. Colonel Mihiel Gilormini, was named base commander to the 198th Fighter Squadron in Puerto Rico. Gilormini and Colonel Alberto A. Nido, together with Lieutenant Colonel José Antonio Muñiz, played an instrumental role in the creation of the Puerto"
"Skyrocket to a speed of . Less than a month later, Major Chuck Yeager topped this record as he piloted the second-generation Bell X-1A to a top speed of and, just nine months later, Major Arthur ""Kit"" Murray flew the same airplane to a new altitude record of . These records stood for less than three years. In September 1956, Captain Iven Kincheloe became the first man to soar above , as he piloted the Bell X-2 to a then-remarkable altitude of . Flying the same airplane just weeks later on 27 September, Captain Mel Apt became the first to"
"official designation was the 6000C4, and it was later given the military designation XLR11. The XLR11-RM-5 engine was first used in the Bell X-1. On October 14, 1947, the X-1 became the first aircraft to fly faster than the speed of sound (Mach 1). The XLR11-RM-5 was also used in the X-1A and X-1B, and as a booster engine in the U.S. Navy's D-558-2 Douglas Skyrocket turbojet (where it was designated the XLR8-RM-5). In 1959 and 1960, while development of a more powerful engine was still underway, a pair of XLR11-RM-13's were used as an interim power plant for the"
"on the 50th anniversary of his historic flight past Mach 1, he flew a new ""Glamorous Glennis III"", an F-15D Eagle, past Mach 1. The chase plane for the flight was an F-16 Fighting Falcon piloted by Bob Hoover, a longtime test, fighter and aerobatic pilot who had been Yeager's wingman for the first supersonic flight. This was Yeager's last official flight with the U.S. Air Force. At the end of his speech to the crowd, Yeager concluded, ""All that I am ... I owe to the Air Force."" Later that month, he was the recipient of the Tony Jannus"
"Charles ""Chuck"" Yeager piloted USAF aircraft #46-062, nicknamed ""Glamorous Glennis"" for his wife. The airplane was drop launched from the bomb bay of a B-29 and reached Mach 1.06 (). Following burnout of the engine, the plane glided to a landing on the dry lake bed. This was XS-1 flight number 50. The three main participants in the X-1 program won the National Aeronautics Association Collier Trophy in 1948 for their efforts. Honored at the White House by President Truman were Larry Bell for Bell Aircraft, Captain Yeager for piloting the flights, and John Stack for the contributions of the"
"similar to every other, with a very long and slender fuselage and large delta wings, cf. SR-71, Concorde, etc. Although not ideal for passenger aircraft, this shaping is quite adaptable for bomber use. Aviation research during World War II led to the creation of the first rocket- and jet-powered aircraft. Several claims of breaking the sound barrier during the war subsequently emerged. However, the first recognized flight exceeding the speed of sound by a manned aircraft in controlled level flight was performed on October 14, 1947 by the experimental Bell X-1 research rocket plane piloted by Charles ""Chuck"" Yeager. The"
"film of Apt's fatal crash, taken by a stop-frame camera mounted behind Apt in the cockpit. Apt was survived by his wife and two daughters. One of Apt's daughters, Sharman Apt Russell, who was two years old when her father died, grew up to become a writer. Milburn G. Apt Milburn G. ""Mel"" Apt (April 9, 1924 – September 27, 1956) was a US test pilot, and the first man to attain speeds faster than Mach 3. He was killed in the destruction of the Bell X-2 during the record-setting flight that exceeded Mach 3. Apt was born April 9,"
"place, including the naming of the X-1, ""Glamorous Glennis"" after his wife and his superstitious preflight ritual of asking for a stick of Beemans chewing gum from his best friend, Jack Ridley. When the film came out, the former (and future) astronaut Senator John Glenn of Ohio was running for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. In the weeks before the movie's premiere, media pundits as well as people in the Democratic Party wondered that if the film became a big success, it could give Glenn an advantage in the upcoming primaries, a speculation that eventually proved"
"B-57 and 66 aircraft. On October 29, 1953, he established a world speed record of 755.149 mph in a F-100A. Everest test-flew the Bell X-1B to a speed of Mach 2.3 (2.3 times the speed of sound) in December 1954, making him the second fastest man in the world, Later flights in the Bell X-2 rocket plane established him as ""the fastest man alive"" when he attained a new unofficial speed record of 1,957 mph or Mach 2.9. He was transferred to Hahn Air Base, Germany, in March 1957, as commander of the 461st Fighter Squadron of the 36th Fighter"
"Jack Ridley (pilot) Colonel Jackie Lynwood ""Jack"" Ridley (June 16, 1915 – March 12, 1957) was an aeronautical engineer, USAF test pilot and chief of the U.S. Air Force's Flight Test Engineering Laboratory. He helped develop and test many Cold War era military aircraft but is best known for his work on the Bell X-1, the first aircraft to achieve supersonic flight. He was highly respected among fellow test pilots, most notably Chuck Yeager, for his engineering skills. Jack Ridley was born in Garvin, Oklahoma, not long after the aeroplane had made its first hesitant appearance on the world's stage."
"was directly involved with the Bell X-1 program, ""Glamorous Glennis"", research flights which led to the first manned flight exceeding the speed of sound in level flight. Dr. Williams was on the Aeronautical Board of NACA, and was responsible for hiring many of the ""pioneers"" of what has now become America's Space Program, NASA. Michael I. Jordan, Professor of Computer Science at UC Berkeley is also an LSU alumnus. Louisiana State University The Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana."
"Max Immelmann Max Immelmann (21 September 1890 – 18 June 1916) ""PLM"" was the first German World War I flying ace. He was a pioneer in fighter aviation and is often mistakenly credited with the first aerial victory using a synchronized gun. He was the first aviator to win the ""Pour le Mérite"", and was awarded it at the same time as Oswald Boelcke. His name has become attached to a common flying tactic, the Immelmann turn, and remains a byword in aviation. He is credited with 15 aerial victories. Max Immelmann was born on 21 September 1890, in Dresden,"
"was recorded for that flight.) As a result of the X-1's initial supersonic flight, the National Aeronautics Association voted its 1948 Collier Trophy to be shared by the three main participants in the program. Honored at the White House by President Harry S. Truman were Larry Bell for Bell Aircraft, Captain Yeager for piloting the flights, and John Stack for the NACA contributions. Jackie Cochran was the first woman to break the sound barrier on May 18, 1953, in a Canadair Sabre, with Yeager as her wingman. On August 21, 1961, a Douglas DC-8-43 (registration N9604Z) unofficially exceeded Mach 1"
"STEM subject. The college degree requirement excluded the USAF's X-1 pilot, then-Lt Col (later Brig Gen) Chuck Yeager, the first person to exceed the speed of sound. He later became a critic of the project, ridiculing the civilian space program, labeling astronauts as ""spam in a can."" John Glenn did not have a college degree either, but used influential friends to make the selection committee accept him. USAF Capt (later Col) Joseph Kittinger, a USAF fighter pilot and stratosphere balloonist, met all the requirements but preferred to stay in his contemporary project. Other potential candidates declined because they did not"
"a shock wave, while Jakob Ackeret led the initial work of calculating the lift and drag of supersonic airfoils. Theodore von Kármán and Hugh Latimer Dryden introduced the term transonic to describe flow speeds around Mach 1 where drag increases rapidly. This rapid increase in drag led aerodynamicists and aviators to disagree on whether supersonic flight was achievable until the sound barrier was broken for the first time in 1947 using the Bell X-1 aircraft. By the time the sound barrier was broken, aerodynamicists' understanding of the subsonic and low supersonic flow had matured. The Cold War prompted the design"
"Royal Air Force in 1940, during World War II. This refers to two quite different aerobatic maneuvers. The first of these is the one now known as an ""Immelmann"" (also frequently spelled"" ""Immelman"","" in literature and media). Max Immelmann Max Immelmann (21 September 1890 – 18 June 1916) ""PLM"" was the first German World War I flying ace. He was a pioneer in fighter aviation and is often mistakenly credited with the first aerial victory using a synchronized gun. He was the first aviator to win the ""Pour le Mérite"", and was awarded it at the same time as Oswald"
"Military aviation had entered the jet age somewhat earlier, during the closing stages of World War II. In the early postwar years, the increasing use of jet aircraft had little significant impact, serving mainly to continue the slow but steady improvements in performance seen in the past. Supersonic flight brought about a step change in aircraft performance. The Bell X-1, first to break the sound barrier in level flight, was an experimental rocket-powered type, and production jets which followed it into service could fly little faster. The first jet aircraft designed from the outset for supersonic flight was the British"
"of Mach 2.21 (752 m/s, 2,704 km/h). NACA research pilot John B. McKay took his place during September 1958, completing five flights in pursuit of Mach 3 (1,021 m/s, 3,675 km/h) before the X-1E was permanently grounded after its 26th flight, during November 1958, due to the discovery of structural cracks in the fuel tank wall. Bell X-1 The Bell X-1 is a rocket engine–powered aircraft, designated originally as the XS-1, and was a joint National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics–U.S. Army Air Forces–U.S. Air Force supersonic research project built by Bell Aircraft. Conceived during 1944 and designed and built in"
"had indicated control difficulties in high-speed flight, and possible techniques for handling them. On September 27, 1956, Apt made his first X-2 flight. He raced away from the B-50 under full power, quickly outdistancing the F-100 chase planes. At high altitude, he nosed over, accelerating rapidly. At 65,000 feet, the X-2 reached Mach 3.2 (2,094 mph), making Apt the first man to fly more than three times the speed of sound. Upon rocket burnout, Apt found himself further from home than anticipated. The planned flight profile called for slowing to Mach 2.4 before turning back to base. The additional time"
"diameter compass rose, in which aircraft can land into the wind in any direction. X-56 X-57 X-59 QueSST Dream Chaser UAS in the NAS TGALS NASA's predecessor, NACA, operated the Douglas Skyrocket. A successor to the Air Force's Bell X-1, the D-558-II could operate under rocket or jet power. It conducted extensive tests into aircraft stability in the transsonic range, optimal supersonic wing configurations, rocket plume effects, and high-speed flight dynamics. On November 20, 1953, the Douglas Skyrocket became the first aircraft to fly at over twice the speed of sound when it attained a speed of Mach 2.005. Like"
"Bell Aircraft The Bell Aircraft Corporation was an aircraft manufacturer of the United States, a builder of several types of fighter aircraft for World War II but most famous for the Bell X-1, the first supersonic aircraft, and for the development and production of many important civilian and military helicopters. Bell also developed the Reaction Control System for the Mercury Spacecraft, North American X-15, and Bell Rocket Belt. The company was purchased in 1960 by Textron, and lives on today as Bell Helicopter. As a teenager, Larry Bell saw his first plane at an air show, starting a lifelong fascination"
"went into service with the German Luftwaffe and later in the war the British Gloster Meteor entered service but never saw action — top airspeeds of aircraft for that era went as high as 1,130 km/h (702 mph), with the early July 1944 unofficial record flight of the German Me 163B V18 rocket fighter prototype. In October 1947, the Bell X-1 was the first aircraft to exceed the speed of sound. In 1948–49, aircraft transported supplies during the Berlin Blockade. New aircraft types, such as the B-52, were produced during the Cold War. The first jet airliner, the de Havilland"
"Sabre. He also claimed to have repeated his supersonic flight on October 14, 1947, 30 minutes before Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1. Although evidence from witnesses and instruments strongly imply that Welch achieved supersonic speed, the flights were not properly monitored and are not officially recognized. The XP-86 officially achieved supersonic speed on April 26, 1948. On 14 October 1947, just under a month after the United States Air Force had been created as a separate service, the tests culminated in the first manned supersonic flight, piloted by Air Force Captain Charles ""Chuck"" Yeager in aircraft"