This Day in History: October 14, 1947

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by Simonov

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This Day in History

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On October 14, 1947, Captan Charles "Chuck" Yeager becomes the first man confirmed to fly faster than the speed of sound. Yeager's feat was accomplished in the Bell X-1 rocket plane (which he had named "Glamorous Glennis" in honor of his wife). The X-1 was launched from altitude from the bomb bay of a modified Boeing B-29 Superfortress and reached a recorded speed of Mach 1.06 (despite Yeager suffering from broken ribs from falling off a horse a couple days previous to the flight) before the rocket engine was spent and the aircraft gliding to a safe landing. Yeager, Lawrence Bell of the Bell Aircraft Corporation, and John Stack of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics were awarded the Collier Trophy for 1947 for their participation in the Bell X-1 program and supersonic flight.

Captain Chuck Yeager would continue to push the boundaries of aircraft speed, including a Mach 2.44 flight in the X-1A that ended with Yeager recovering the aircraft after it had lost control due to inertia coupling and fallen 51,000 feet in approximately 51 seconds. Yeager would also assume command of various USAF units, including the 417th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, the 1st Fighter Day Squadron, the 405th Tactical Fighter Wing, and the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing. Yeager was also the first commandant of the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School following his promotion to colonel and in 1969 was promoted to his final rank of brigadier general and was assigned as vice-commander of the Seventeenth Air Force. Yeager retired from active duty in 1975; however, he continued and continues to take an active part in the field of aviation.

The Bell X-1 "Glamorous Glennis" was ferried underneath a B-29 to Washington, DC, in 1950. It was gifted to the National Air and Space Museum (known as the American National Air Museum at the time) and is currently on display alongside such aircraft as the Spirit of St. Louis and SpaceShipOne in the Milestones of Flight Gallery.

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