Jun 10 2009
Bell XS-1 Exceeds the Speed of Sound
On this day in 1948, American test pilot, chuck Yeager flew the Bell XS-1 plane over the southern California desert. This flight exceeded the speed of sound.
The Bell X-1 series of aircraft were designed and built for experimental supersonic flights – to gather fight data on conditions in the transonic speed range. The aircraft was a ‘bullet with wings’. It was shaped to closely resemble the Browning .50 caliber bullet.
The aircraft was powered by a rocket propulsion system with a four chamber engine built by Reaction Motors, Inc. This propulsion system was fueled with ethyl alcohol diluted with water and liquid oxygen. There were five variants of this aircraft that were built for experimental flight purposes.
The research techniques and data from this flight series was used in advancement of America’s space program in the 1960’s and our supremacy as a leader in aviation design and development. There are two remaining X-1 aircraft, one is on display at the Air & Space Museum at the Smithsonian and the other is in front of the NASA Dryden Flight Research headquarters.
