U.S. Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier on this day in 1947. The airman had been an incredibly successful fighter pilot during World War II. After the war, he was chosen to help test a new experimental “rocket plane.”
The “X-1” was loaded onto a B-29 bomber and released at an altitude of 20,000 feet. From there, the rocket plane rose further into the sky and sped forward at Mach 1.06, exceeding the speed of sound. Yeager continued testing experimental planes, eventually darting through the sky at an incredible 1,650 miles per hour. He would retire from the Air Force in 1975.
You can learn more about Yeager’s X-1 flight on the website of the National Air and Space Museum.
NCPA
