How the X-1 Flew

The Bell X-1 was basically a rocket engine with wings. The engine burned all its fuel in 2.5 minutes, and the X-1 certainly did not have enough fuel to take off under its own power-it would hitch a ride into the air beneath a B-29 Superfortress bomber. The bomber would climb to 25,000 feet (7,620 meters) before releasing the X-1.

The first flights of the X-1, which took place in Florida in early 1946, were unpowered. The X-1 then began to make powered flights from Muroc Army Air Field in California’s Mojave Desert. (The field was later renamed Edwards Air Force Base.) The rocket engine was tested for the first time by pilot Chalmers Goodlin, who made many successful test flights in the X-1. On the powered flights, the pilot ignited the rocket engine for a brief but very fast flight. When the engine cut out, the air­plane glided down, landing without engine power-a maneuver later used by the Space Shuttle.

At the time the fastest aircraft in the world was the British Gloster Meteor,

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CHARLES ELWOOD "CHUCK" YEAGER (BORN 1923)

Charles Elwood Yeager, always known as Chuck, was born in West Virginia. He flew as a fighter pilot in Europe during World War II, destroying thirteen enemy aircraft before being shot down over enemy territory in Europe. He managed to escape capture and make his way to England. After the war, Yeager became a flying instructor and test pilot, and he volunteered to fly the X-1. Between 1954 and 1962, he left test flying for other U. S. Air Force duties before returning to Edwards Air Force Base to head the Aerospace Research Pilot School. Yeager continued to fly fast airplanes. He had a nar­row escape in the 1960s when his NF-104 jet went into a spin and fell from a very high altitude. Yeager managed to eject and, although injured, parachuted down to land in the desert. In 1968 Yeager took command of a fighter wing. He retired in 1975.

How the X-1 Flew

How the X-1 Flew

О Chuck Yeager stands with the Bell X-1 that he named Glamorous Glennis.

 

How the X-1 Flew

which set a world speed record of 615 miles per hour (990 kilometers per hour) in September 1946. In August 1947 the Douglas Skystreak topped that with 650 miles per hour (1,046 kilome­ters per hour). No aircraft had yet flown supersonic in level flight.