Chuck Yeager beats all

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Chuck Yeager beats all

Q: Who was the first person to travel faster than the speed of sound? Was it with an airplane? —Rob Diablo, Winnipeg, Canada

[USAF Museum photo archive] The X-1 (named after his wife) and Chuck Yeager

A: It was with an airplane but you could fight over who was first.

On Oct. 14, 1947, U.S. Air Force Capt. Chuck Yeager officially broke the sound barrier (Mach 1) flying the bullet-shaped experimental rocket aircraft, the Bell X-1 in level flight.

However, two weeks before on Oct. 1, 1947, North American test pilot George Welch probably exceeded Mach 1 during high-speed dives of the North American XP-86. People heard sonic booms on the ground and his cockpit speed indicator jumped erratically. But his plane wasn’t equipped to record his speed so Yeager gets the official record.

Other "firsts":

On Oct. 15, 1997, Richard Noble’s racecar (the ThrustSSC vehicle containing two turbojets that propel the Phantom jetfighter) set the first supersonic land-speed record in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert.

William J. Knight has the absolute speed record, flying his X-15 at Mach 6.72 (6.72 times the speed of sound, which is 4,594 mph or 7,393 kph).

Further Surfing:

USAF Museum: Bell X-1

(Answered May 16, 2003)

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