Who broke the sound barrier and at what speed?

Answer 1

Chuck Yeager broke it in 1947. The speed was about 761 m.p.h.

Answer 2

Hans Guido Mutke claimed to have broken the sound barrier on April 9, 1945 in a Messerschmitt Me 262. However, this claim is disputed by most experts as the Me262's stucture could not support high transonic, let alone supersonic, flight and lacks a scientific foundation.

George Welch apparently broke the sound barrier on October 1, 1947 while diving the subsonic XP-86 Sabre. 13 days later and 30 minutes before Yeager's historic flight, Welch apparently repeated his supersonic flight. Although evidence from witnesses and instruments strongly imply that Welch achieved supersonic speed, the flights were not properly monitored and cannot be officially recognized. (The XP-86 officially achieved supersonic speed on April 26, 1948.)

Chuck Yeager (then a Captain in the US Air Force, later a Brigadier General who was promoted in 2005 to Major General, 30 years after his official retirement) was the first person to break the sound barrier in level flight on October 14, 1947, flying the experimental Bell X-1 rocket plane to Mach 1 at an altitude of 45,000 feet. Yeager's flight was part of a test program with the goal of achieving supersonic flight so proper monitoring was in-place for the flight.

Chuck Yeager is officially credited with being the first person to break the sound barrier "in level flight" (see the video below). This leaves the door open for claims of previous supersonic flights made while diving.

The sound barrier was first broken on land in 1948 by a rocket train in California. It was powered by 50,000 pounds of thrust, reaching 1,019 mph.

Jackie Cochran was the first woman to break the sound barrier on May 18, 1953 in a Canadair F-86 Sabre.

Answer 3

Hans Guido Mutke claimed to have broken the sound barrier on April 9, 1945 in a Messerschmitt Me 262. However, this claim is disputed by most experts as the Me262's stucture could not support high transonic, let alone supersonic, flight and lacks a scientific foundation.

George Welch apparently broke the sound barrier on October 1, 1947 while diving the subsonic XP-86 Sabre. 13 days later and 30 minutes before Yeager's historic flight, Welch apparently repeated his supersonic flight. Although evidence from witnesses and instruments strongly imply that Welch achieved supersonic speed, the flights were not properly monitored and cannot be officially recognized. (The XP-86 officially achieved supersonic speed on April 26, 1948.)

Chuck Yeager (then a Captain in the US Air Force, later a Brigadier General who was promoted in 2005 to Major General, 30 years after his official retirement) was the first person to break the sound barrier in level flight on October 14, 1947, flying the experimental Bell X-1 rocket plane to Mach 1 at an altitude of 45,000 feet. Yeager's flight was part of a test program with the goal of achieving supersonic flight so proper monitoring was in-place for the flight.

Chuck Yeager is officially credited with being the first person to break the sound barrier "in level flight" (see the video below). This leaves the door open for claims of previous supersonic flights made while diving.

The sound barrier was first broken on land in 1948 by a rocket train in California. It was powered by 50,000 pounds of thrust, reaching 1,019 mph.

Jackie Cochran was the first woman to break the sound barrier on May 18, 1953 in a Canadair F-86 Sabre.

Answer 4

It's been 50 years since test pilot Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier. Visit this site to hear Yeager and others describe those early days, to discover what creates a sonic boom, or to find out about the latest attempts to beat speed records on land, water, and in the air.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/barrier/

it is very disputed who was first: [but credit is given 2 chuck]

First person to break the sound barrier
Hans Guido Mutke claimed to have broken the sound barrier on April 9, 1945 in a Messerschmitt Me 262. However, this claim is disputed by most experts and lacks a scientific foundation.

George Welch apparently broke the sound barrier on October 1, 1947 while diving the subsonic XP-86 Sabre. 13 days later and 30 minutes before Yeager's historic flight, Welch apparently repeated his supersonic flight. Although evidence from witnesses and instruments strongly imply that Welch achieved supersonic speed, the flights were not properly monitored and cannot be officially recognized. (The XP-86 officially achieved supersonic speed on April 26, 1948.)

Chuck Yeager (then a Captain in the US Air Force, later a Brigadier General who was promoted in 2005 to Major General, 30 years after his official retirement) was the first person to break the sound barrier in level flight on October 14, 1947, flying the experimental Bell X-1 rocket plane to Mach 1 at an altitude of 45,000 feet. Yeager's flight was part of a test program with the goal of achieving supersonic flight so proper monitoring was in-place for the flight.

Chuck Yeager is officially credited with being the first person to break the sound barrier "in level flight" (see the video below). This leaves the door open for claims of previous supersonic flights made while diving.

The sound barrier was first broken on land in 1948 by a rocket train in California. It was powered by 50,000 pounds of thrust, reaching 1,019 mph.

Jackie Cochran was the first woman to break the sound barrier on May 18, 1953 in a Canadair F-86 Sabre.

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:rpFRQffY0IEJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_barrier+Who+broke+the+sound+barrier+and+at+what+speed&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2

Answer 5

On October 14th 1947, capt. Charles Yeger broke the sound barrier, flying an experimental airplane Bell X-1. The speed was 1078 km/h, because the environmental temperature at the altitude he was flying on was nearly -50oC.
That was the first officially recognised breaking of the sound barrier, although smoe other attempts were succesfull, but not monitored properly or happened at abnormal circumstances (airplane diving through the air).

The speed of sound in air is approximately calculated as:

20*sqrt(T),

where T is temperature of environment (air) in Kelvin degrees (absolute temperature).

Answer 6

I don't recall the person's name, but an astronaut early on during Project Hyman (sp?) went up 100,000 feet in a balloon, jumped off, free-fell for over 80,000 feet, then parachuted safely to earth. This guy broke the sound barrier WITHOUT A PLANE! I saw the footage from the balloon on the history channel and it's freaky.

Edit:
Project Highman-
1960 -- Altitude Record and Highest Parachute Jump: Air Force Captain Joe Kittinger jumps from a balloon at 102,800 feet on August 16th and sets a world high altitude parachute jump (where he breaks the sound barrier with his body) and freefall record that still stands today.