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On October 14, 1947, USAF Captain Charles "Chuck" Yeager piloted the jet Bell X- 1 in the first airplane flight to break the sound barrier at the speed of Mach 1.06. Chuck Yeager name the X-1 as the Glamorous Glennis after his wife.
This was the 9th power fight of the first Bell X-1. The Bell X-11 was dropped unpowered from the under the bomb bay of B-29 bomber 21,000 feet. The four rocket engines' 6000 pound thrust push the X-1 to an altitude of 45,000 feet at a speed of Mach 1.06. Yeager flew X-1 at supersonic speed for 18 seconds. The stabilizer were effective and there were no buffets, no jolts or no shocks during the supersonic flight.
Three Bell X-1 were constructed. They were test aircraft for the design of supersonic aircraft. The Bell X-1 was painted a brilliant orange for better visiblity during test flights. The three Bell X-1 airframes were built by Bell Aircraft. The Bell X-1 had an usual shape for aircraft of it day. The Bell X-1 body was shaped like bullet with wings sharpened to a razor edge. Bell Aircraft shaped the X-1 airfame like a 0.50 caliber bullet since fired bullets are supersonic. The fuselage was high strength aluminum which was 10.85 feet height and 30.9 feet long. Its wing span was 28 feet and zero inches. Its wing area was 130 square feet. The launch weight was 12,250 pounds. The landing weight was about 7000 pounds. The Bell X-1 was powered by a XLR-11 4 chamber rocket engine produced by Reaction Motors. The rocket was liquid oxygen and diluted ethyl alcohol.
The first Bell X-1, Glamorous Glennis is on display hanging from the ceiling in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space near the Wright Flyer in Washington DC. The second Bell X-1 was return to Bell Aircraft factory in Buffalo, New York and was reconstructed into the X-1E with more flight flights. the X-1E is now on a pedestal at NASA's Dryden Fight Research Facility adjecent to Edwards Air force Base. The third Bell X-1 was destroyed in an explosion on the ground before making any power flight in 1951.
Bell X-1 photo at Smithsonian's National Air and Space musuem near the Wright Flyer in Washington D.C.
