75 years ago today

[AzPaul]

Today is one of my favorite historical anniversaries. On October 14th, 1947, Charles Elwood Yeager took the Bell X-1 beyond Mach 1, becoming the first person to break the sound barrier. Yeager accomplished this feat at the ripe old age of 24. Just a few years after rising from an 18-year-old mechanic to a 21-year-old fighter pilot during WWII. It's said that the ambling speaking style that seemingly belonged to every commercial airline pilot who ever addressed a cabin between 1960-2000, was an homage to Yeager and his West Virginia drawl.

He passed away just two years ago at age 97.


http://www.chuckyeager.org/news/gen-...sound-barrier/

[Chewbacca]

Legend.

[Blansky]

Talk about a life well lived.

[flyinghell34]

Legend!!!

He is a picture taken for my collection when Joe Engle signed a piece for my collection.

Engle and Yeagar were very close friends. The Rolex GMT seen here was owned and worn by Chuck Yeagar who gave it to his good friend Joe. Engle's wife Jenie now wears it.

[enjoythemusic]

The world's fastest man, was an amazing feat!

Let's also thank the engineers, mechanics....

[ltmgeller]

[Dan Pierce]

The Right Stuff.
dP

[MrGoat]

I learned about him in 5th grade. The man has been a legend to me ever since.


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[Travelair007]

Originally Posted by AzPaul

Today is one of my favorite historical anniversaries. On October 14th, 1947, Charles Elwood Yeager took the Bell X-1 beyond Mach 1, becoming the first person to break the sound barrier. Yeager accomplished this feat at the ripe old age of 24. Just a few years after rising from an 18-year-old mechanic to a 21-year-old fighter pilot during WWII. It's said that the ambling speaking style that seemingly belonged to every commercial airline pilot who ever addressed a cabin between 1960-2000, was an homage to Yeager and his West Virginia drawl.

He passed away just two years ago at age 97.


http://www.chuckyeager.org/news/gen-...sound-barrier/

Absolute legend. I became a pilot because of him!

[RW16610]

Such a legend, indeed! His contributions to aeronautics will never be forgotten.

[Rebel]

[Beo3]

I wrote a paper on him while I high school.

Still one of my all time heroes!

[winst]

Originally Posted by Beo3

I wrote a paper on him while I high school.

Still one of my all time heroes!

Sorry C- for this one. You forgot to put ‘was’ & ‘at’ In between I & high!

[Beo3]

Originally Posted by winst

Sorry C- for this one. You forgot to put ‘was’ & ‘at’ In between I & high!

LOL! I meant to write "in" not "I".

I spent the majority of my high school years being HIGH, that may explain a lot.

[77T]

It was a fabulous time for US efforts to push the envelope. Truman had just committed the country to the exploration of aeronautic and astronautic pursuits.

And out in the desert a certain colorful character said, “Ah hell - we had more fun in a week than those weenies had in a lifetime.” - - Pancho Barnes


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[Stan Cooper]

Chuck Yeager was a true American hero. I met him at an annual Oshkosh AirVenture in the mid-nineties (he was wearing a GMT-Master), and read his autobiography "Yeager."

1947 was also the year the U.S. Air Force became a separate branch of the military.

[BLACKHORSE 6]

It’s astounding how quickly aviation advanced in the 20th century. A lot of that can be credited to Yeager and those like him. Absolutely fearless.

[BNA/LION]

Fearless!

[NYC6]

One word Legend

[Moondoggy]

Amazing, considering I just went to the gym today and had an afternoon nap.

[Speedbird-1]

A true 'one off'.

[Old Expat Beast]

Originally Posted by Speedbird-1

A true 'one off'.

If only we hadn't cancelled the M.52

https://www.theengineer.co.uk/conten...that-never-was

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Miles-M-52-.../dp/0752470140

[TheDude]

I heard him speak at a tech conference maybe 10 or so years ago… actually it might be closer to 15+ years ago.

Anyway, I learned a few things…

-they let him pilot fighter jets well into his 80s
-he was shot down in WWII and evaded the Nazis (the real ones)

On the second point he had a humorous statement which I’ll paraphrase, “they haven’t made a German that can catch a West Virginia boy in the woods…”

https://text-message.blogs.archives....er-march-1944/


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[Speedbird-1]

Originally Posted by Old Expat Beast

If only we hadn't cancelled the M.52

https://www.theengineer.co.uk/conten...that-never-was

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Miles-M-52-.../dp/0752470140

Agreed...I put it down to our "special relationship"
Although a piloted M52 never took to the skies, an unmanned version roughly 30 per cent the original scale did. It launched from a modified de Havilland Mosquito on 8 October 1947, but its rocket exploded shortly after release. Six days later Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier for the first time in the Bell X-1, an aircraft that shared many similarities with the British design. In October 1948, an unmanned M52 reached Mach 1.38 in stable level flight.

Dennis Bancroft, chief aerodynamicist at Miles, later claimed Bell Aircraft was given access to the drawings and research on the M52, but that the US reneged on its side of a knowledge-sharing agreement made in 1944, and that no US data came back in return. At this point, the X-1 was supposedly struggling with conventional tail designs, and the variable incidence tail used on the M52 is said to have inspired a similar device on the record-breaking US craft.

Unsurprisingly, claims of British influence on the iconic Bell X-1 are widely disputed in the US, and history is generally written by the victors. But perhaps with a little more funding on this side of the Atlantic, the M52 just might have given Chuck Yeager and the X-1 a run for their money.