Bell X-1

The Bell X-1, originally XS-1 was the first aircraft to exceed the speed of sound in controlled, level flight. It was the first of the so called X-planes, a series of aircraft designated for testing of new technologies and usually kept highly secret.

On October 14, 1947, Charles "Chuck" Yeager of the United States Air Force flew aircraft #46-062, which he had named 'Glamorous Glennis', after his wife. The rocket-powered aircraft was launched from the belly of a specially modified B-29 and glided to a landing on a runway. Aircraft #46-062 is the model currently on display in the main atrium of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, on the same side as the Spirit of St. Louis and SpaceShipOne.

The German pilot Hans Guido Mutke claimed to be the first person to break the sound barrier, on April 9, 1945 in a Messerschmitt Me 262, but this claim is disputed. The mysterious 702 mph Me-163B by Dittmar flight is wrapped in mystery and has no Mach number associated with it. Many also contend that George Welch broke the barrier on October 1, 1947 in his XP-86 Sabre during a dive, just two weeks before the X-1. Full confirmation of Welch's achievement is not available, although it is very likely that he exceeded Mach 1 more than once sometime in the October - November, 1947 period, and perhaps as early as October 1.

History

Beginning in 1946, two XS-1 (for "Experimental, Supersonic", later X-1) experimental research aircraft conducted pioneering tests at Muroc Army Air Field (now Edwards Air Force Base) in California to obtain flight data on conditions in the transonic speed range. These early tests culminated in the first piloted flight faster than Mach 1.0, the speed of sound. XS-1 flight number 50 is the first one where the X-1 recorded supersonic flight, at Mach 1.06 peak speed; however, Yeager and many other personnel record the possibility that Flight #49 (also with Yeager piloting), which reached a top recorded speed of Mach 0.997, may have in fact passed the Sound Barrier. (The measurements were not accurate to three significant figures and no sonic boom is recorded for that flight.)

The XS-1 was the first high-speed aircraft built purely for aviation research purposes. The model was never intended for production. She was designed largely in accordance with specifications provided by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) (now NASA), paid for by the Army Air Forces, and built by Bell Aircraft Inc. The XS-1 #2 (serial number 46-063) was flight tested by the NACA to provide design data for later production high-performance aircraft.

The research techniques used in the X-1 program became the pattern for all subsequent X-craft projects. The NACA X-1 procedures and personnel also helped lay the foundation of America's space program in the 1960s. The X-1 project defined and solidified the post-war cooperative union between U.S. military needs, industrial capabilities, and research facilities. The flight data collected by the NACA in the X-1 tests then provided a basis for American aviation supremacy in the latter half of the 20th century.

As a result of the X-1's initial supersonic flight, the National Aviation Association voted its 1948 Collier Trophy to be shared by the three main participants in the program. Honored at the White House by President Truman were Larry Bell for Bell Aircraft, Captain Yeager for piloting the flights, and John Stack of NACA for the NACA contributions. Years later, Yeager reported that his father, a staunch Republican, refused to shake hands with President Truman (a Democrat).

Chuck Yeager quotes

"During dogfights you would go into high-speed dives, or as fast as you could get the airplane going straight down from, you know, 36 or 37 thousand feet, and when this happened a shock-wave formed on the thickest part of the wing, and behind the shock-wave you had turbulent air, and it was just a nuisance if you were trying to track some guy to shoot him down..."

"...priorities were, get the airplane above mach one as soon as you can, and don't kill yourself, and don't embarrass the air force."

"Are you ready?" "Hell, yes. Let's get it over with." (radio transcript)

"I was lucky to live through the thing, lucky to be involved. I was at the right place at the right time at the right age, and I had the right... capability to take advantage of it."

In miniature

Revell released (and subsequently re-released) a 1/32 scale plastic kit of the X-1 in the 1980s. In the mid-1990s Tamiya released kits of the aircraft in 1/72 and 1/48 scale, the former kit having all internal details with the option for a see-through fuselage half.

Aircraft serial numbers

Specifications (X-1)

General characteristics

Crew: 1
Length: 30 ft 11 in (9.4 m)
Wingspan: 28 ft 0 in (8.5 m)
Height: 10 ft 10 in (3.3 m)
Wing area: 130 ft² (12 m²)
Empty: 7,000 lb (3,175 kg)
Loaded: 12,225 lb (5,545 kg)
Maximum takeoff: 12,250 lb (5,557 kg)
Powerplant: Reaction Motors XLR-11-RM3 rocket engine, 6,000 lbf (26.7 kN) thrust

Performance

Maximum speed: 957 mph (1,541 km·h^-1)
Range: 5 minutes powered endurance
Service ceiling: 71,900 ft (21,900 m)
Wing loading: 94 lb/ft² (463 kg·m^-1)
Thrust/weight: 0.49

References

TV program: Modern Marvels - Breaking the sound barrier, 2003

External links

Bell X-1 Milestones of Flight
NASA's History of the X-1
American X-Vehicles: An Inventory X-1 to X-50, SP-2000-4531 - June 2003; NASA online PDF Monograph
Photo of Glamorous Glennis on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.
^*

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Bell X-1