Who was the first person to break the sound barrier?

Question

Who was the first man to break the sound barrier in flat level flight in a jet aircraft.

Chuck yeager did it in a ROCKET powered craft not a jet

Answer 1

. According to conventional history, Chuck Yeager was first to do so on 14 October 1947 in the Bell X-1. Yeager's craft was powered by a rocket engine. However, another flight test program that was in progress at Muroc Field (now Edwards Air Force Base) during the same time period was that of the jet-powered XP-86, prototype of the F-86 Sabre soon to gain fame in the Korean War.

Shortly before the X-1's famous flight, North American test pilot George Welch had been conducting high-speed dives of the XP-86. During these flights, he had noticed odd behavior of the aircraft's speed indicator which jumped erratically as he approached Mach 1. Later on, this phenomenon would come to be known as "Mach jump" and is indicative of encountering shock waves at transonic speeds near the speed of sound. Witnesses on the ground had also reported hearing the tell-tale "BA-BOOM" sound indicative of the sonic boom created by a supersonic vehicle.



Welch flew two of these possible supersonic flights before the X-1 officially broke the sound barrier, one on 1 October 1947 and the other on 14 October, mere minutes before Yeager achieved Mach 1.06. Unfortunately for Welch, his aircraft was not equipped with instrumentation to determine conclusively just how fast he had gone. It was not until 13 November that ground stations were used to measure the speed of the XP-86 during which the aircraft was clocked at Mach 1.02 and 1.04 on two separate attempts., it is quite possible that George Welch was not only the first to fly supersonically in a jet-powered plane, but the first to break the sound barrier as well.

For political and security reasons, the Air Force clamped the lid on both stories, and it was not until December 1947 that Yeager's accomplishment was unveiled to the public. In addition, Air Force Secretary Stuart Symington had long before made the decision that a military pilot would be credited with breaking the sound barrier (Welch was a civilian), and it would be done while flying the X-1 research aircraft to justify its great expense. The capabilities of the Sabre were finally released in June 1948 when the Air Force and North American announced that the XP-86, piloted by George Welch, had broken the sound barrier However, the date of Welch's achievement was given as 26 April 1948 with no mention made of his earlier flights.




If the name George Welch seems familiar, beyond his connection to supersonic flight you may recall that he also achieved fame during the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Welch and Kenneth Taylor were two of a handful of American fighter pilots who managed to become airborne and engage the Japanese planes attacking the island of Oahu. Commanding his Curtiss P-40B, Welch was credited with downing at least four enemy planes. He went on to fly a total of 348 combat missions with 16 confirmed kills before his tour of duty ended. His life was tragically cut short in 1954 during a demonstration flight of the F-100A when the aircraft tumbled out of control due to a design flaw in its vertical tail.

Answer 2

Chuck Yeager

Answer 3

Chuck Yeager

Answer 4

Chuck Yeager

Answer 5

Chuck Yeager was indeed the first pilot to break the sound barrier, but the question was jet in level flight. The XP or F-86 was not capable of level flight above mach one and had to be diving to break the sound barrier.
The first supersonic fighter was the North American F-100 Super Saber. Since it took me a long time to get that info, and you have access to the Internet same as I, you can look up who was flying it.

Answer 6

Chuck Yeager in 1947.

Answer 7

Chuck Yeager. He started off as a pilot in WW2 and ended up in the Bell X-1 program. The barrier was broken in 1947

Answer 8

Chuck Yeager, Bell X-1 rocket plane. Reached Mach 1.3 on October 17, 1947 over Moroc Dry Lake. Now known as Edwards Air Force Base, California. First sonic boom ever heard.

Answer 9

Chuck Yeager in the modified Bell X1, the original X1 had a conventional tail and studies have shown it would have become uncontrollable at transonic speed, fortuitously the Brits had read Geramn research which showed that swept wings were nescessary for supersonic flight and abandoned their Miles M52 which subsequent research has shown would have flown fine at transonic and supersonic speeds, luckily for Bell they were given the M52 plans, and used the M52 s all moving tail for the sucessful and straight winged X1. John Derry and Geoffrey DeHaviland as well as George Welch were also possible contenders for this honour although it is almost certain George Welch was first supersonic in level flight in a Jet, first in the west anyway.

Answer 10

George Welch was the first to break the sound barrier in a dive in the XP-86 which took off under its own power, officially measured at Mach 1.04 by NACA's Radar Theodolite.
Having taken the prototype YF-100 Super Sabre (there was no XF-100) supersonic on its first flight on May 25, 1953, Welch reinforced all claims to his being the first man through the sound barrier. This was typical Welch behavior. Unfortunately, George cannot testify for himself. On Columbus Day of 1954, Welch was performing a demonstration flying the new F-100A. His flight card called for a symmetrical pull-up at 1.55 Mach.

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