If someone would’ve told us a long time ago that humans could travel faster than the
speed of sound, we’d nod our heads in disbelief and laugh.
I mean, think about it.
Breaking the sound barrier was as mind-boggling as superman’s ability to defy gravity.
But what if I told you that a man achieved this impossible feat more than 70 years ago?
So, who is this guy?
How did he manage to travel faster than the speed of sound?
Let’s take a short flight to the past and find out.
Future legend, Charles “Chuck” Yeager, was born in 1923.
It was a time when Jazz was flourishing, and a decade of prosperity was starting in America.
Chuck grew up in a small town in West Virginia called Hamlin, and he was the second born
son of Susie and Albert Yeager.
He had a very peaceful upbringing, and he sure enjoyed being active and curious.
When he wasn’t playing out in the woods, he’d spend his time next to his grandpa,
learning how to fish and hunt.
Chuck was also a good student, but school wasn’t his cup of tea.
He preferred to be outside.
But he excelled in a few things that would serve him well in his career.
He was good at math, physical activity and manual dexterity.
His dad owned a natural gas drilling business in Hamlin.
There, Chuck developed a passion for generators, pumps and pressure regulators.
He wanted to learn everything about them, and he achieved it.
During his teenage years, he was able to fix generators, troubleshoot complicated systems,
and even repair the pickup trucks that his dad used.
In 1941, Chuck graduated from school; and in September of that year he enrolled in the
Army Air Corps, a choice that would change his life forever.
By July of 1942, he was picked to become an air force pilot, and his flight training had
begun.
His discipline stood out, and that gained him a lot of recognition from his peers.
He had the whole flying package, and when his training started; he took off…literally
and figuratively speaking.
His eyesight was 20/10 which was remarkable.
He was great with coordination, and he could carry out almost any task without any difficulty.
As if that wasn’t enough, he was also able to stay calm, and focus on his work in stressful
situations – which is a must for pilots.
All of these positive traits, alongside his competitive nature and his background in machinery,
attracted the attention of his instructors.
In March of 1943, he finally got his wings to fly away.
Within a year he’d managed to fly more than 270 hours around Europe.
There, his experience would prove invaluable for his career.
In just a few years he’d be able to travel faster than the speed of sound.
And, that wasn’t an easy task either.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
First, let’s take a deep dive into physics and see what the sound barrier is.
Scientifically speaking, the sound barrier is a sudden rise in aerodynamic force that
happens when an aircraft approaches the speed of sound.
– Um, what?
Let me simplify it for you.
Imagine yourself sitting in your room watching YouTube…I mean studying.
Now, the air all around you is made up of molecules.
When you move through the air, all those molecules rush to get out of your way.
Now imagine you’re flying an aircraft at supersonic speeds.
When those air molecules can’t get out of your way fast enough, they compress in front
of your plane.
That compressibility surrounds the problem of breaking the sound barrier.
The compressibility of molecules had been an issue for physicists before airplanes even
existed.
However, the molecule compressibility was always linked to the speed of sound, and that’s
what scientists were studying.
They were looking at projectiles that’d achieved surpassing the speed of sound.
When physicists were able to capture their first photo of one traveling at super-sonic
speeds, they were able to see shock-waves, both at the front and at the back of the projectile.
That was the first time they could physically see the compressibility of those molecules.
While the world of aviation was taking off, engineers were trying to figure out a way
to build airplanes that could approach the speed of sound without breaking into pieces.
This happened because the tips of the propeller blades were travelling faster than the speed
of sound, while the aircraft didn’t.
When those blades were moving at supersonic speeds, they were also meeting resistance
from the compressed air molecules.
So, engineers had to come up with something that would allow aircraft to fly higher and
faster.
The problem got even more noticeable when jets entered the market, and replaced propeller
planes in the 1940s.
They saw that as the jets were flying faster, the air over the wings reached supersonic
speeds before the air traveling below the wings.
That meant that the shockwaves building up could rip the plane into pieces.
Now, the speed of sound is Mach 1, which is equivalent to 761 miles per hour.
But even at Mach 0.8 (613 mph), the shockwaves that were building up were still dangerous
for the aircraft.
So, scientists, manufactures, and engineers alike, put their thinking caps on, and started
designing a new airplane that could travel faster than the speed of sound without falling
apart.
And that was when the X-1 came to life.
And let me tell you, a lot of thought went into it.
It was built in 1945 by Bell Aircraft, and was designed to use aerodynamics to help it
move through the air without any disruptions, while still pushing it forward.
Scientists believed that since a projectile can reach the sound barrier, designing something
that replicated it would be their best chance at success.
The plane had short wings; it was equipped with a rocket engine, and most of its body
was filled up with fuel.
That was a sure-fire way to make it reach supersonic speeds.
. The X-1 had only one mission – to break
the sound barrier.
So, it had to retain all its fuel in order to make the speed and travel faster than sound.
It was designed to be launched from below a B-29 Bomber.
That big airplane would be responsible for carrying the X-1 to the altitude it needed.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
In 1945, the X-1 prototype performed its first gliding trip without using any power.
It didn’t have an engine, so it was just released from the mothership while attached
to it by a string.
Many tests followed to confirm the design and functionality.
And towards the end of 1946, another X-1 was built.
This one had all the right ingredients – the rocket engine and the fuel.
The only thing missing was the right pilot.
The man for the job was Chalmers Goodlin, an excellent pilot who worked for the Canadian
Airforce, and performed many test flights of the X-1.
But just as they were about to seal the deal on the sound barrier flight, Chalmers insisted
on 150,000 bucks to make the trip.
On top of that, he also asked to get paid every minute that the aircraft spent travelling
above Mach 0.85.
Of course, the Bell Aircraft Corporation declined, and Goodlin lost his chance to fly the X-1
into history.
But, the company didn’t lose hope since there were 8 more people lined up for the
job.
Among them was our buddy Chuck Yeager.
He was the least experienced at the time, but his reputation preceded him.
His knowledge and confidence on how to work everything in the cockpit made him known to
everyone at the Muroc Army Airfield in the California Desert, today known as Edwards
Airforce Base.
And, he was given the chance to fly the X-1.
The day had finally come.
It was on October 14th, 1947, right after 10:30 in the morning.
Yeager courageously boarded the aircraft, and the mothership took off.
At 20,000 feet the X-1 was released from the B-29.
Just then, Yeager pointed the aircraft’s nose downward and lit all 4 barrels of the
rocket engine.
When he hit Mach 0.8, he started to climb.
That was when he shut down two of the rocket barrels to see if the aircraft was still accelerating
above Mach 0.8.
When he reached 42,000 feet, Chuck re-lit the two rocket barrels that he had just shut
down, and there it was.
The aircraft continued accelerating and the Mach meter was moving from 0.8, to 0.9, to
1.02 and finally reaching 1.06.
Chuck had achieved the impossible.
He had broken the sound barrier, and travelled faster than the speed of sound.
Granted, he had his ups and downs during his training.
He had a few near misses when he was testing the aircraft, but in the end he succeeded.
In December of 1953, he reached Mach 2.44, which is 1650
miles per hour; but then the unexpected happened.
Yeager lost control of the plane.
Chuck managed to re-gain control of the aircraft at 29,000 feet.
In 2012, at 89 years old, 65 years after breaking the Sound Barrier, Chuck Yeager did it again.
He flew a McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle and he hit 1.3 Mach, like a true aviation champion.
So, would you like to experience traveling faster than the speed of sound?
Let me know down in the comments!
If you learned something from this video, give it a like and share it with a friend!
We have over 2,000 cool videos for you to munch on!
Just click to the left or right.
And remember: Stay on the Bright Side of life!