63 years ago today

[mustangdriver]

Gen. Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1. I'm sure this will start a debate, however that doesn't diminish what he did, or the risk he took doing it.

[Fouga23]

George Welsh....

[mustangdriver]

I'm was talking the other day about this and knew it would more than likely spark a conversation. A recent interview with a NACA engineer brought something interesting up. He said that it there was no way that George Welch broke the sound barrier in that F-86. He explained that they had ran the numbers and it just wasn't able to be done in the aircraft he had at that time.
Also let's not forget the standing order of the time that said any sound barrier attempts without having the official NACA measuring equipment on hand will not be valid. The X-1 was ready to go for months, but had to wait on this same equipment.
Yeager's X-1 flight is a historic event, not only for him but also for the men that flew the drop plane, engineers that worked on the X-1, and everyone that worked on it.

[Robbie Stuart]

Where's Jack?

[mustangdriver]

He' still watching the Blacksheep Squadron marathon

[The Inspector]

Agree with Fouga23-
Speaking of Jack, I was going through a box of slides I took @ FLIGHT FEST 1985 @ KBFI and came across a slide of GB and his 'mentor' dealing books. I have little use for GB or CY.

[mustangdriver]

I would be interested to see how many people think that GW actually did it first, or how many people just don't like Yeager. It really doesn't matter, as facts are facts. We can't change history because we don't like the people that accomplished something. The X-1 was ready to go for months before GW was flying the XF-86. But the rule was that without the NACA equipment on board, no sound barrier claims would be honored. It was their own rule. There is zero proof that GW did break it, and now on top of that NACA engineers are coming out and saying that there is no way it happened, but people are still not willing to accept the facts. You can't change history because you don't like the person. The guy risked his butt in that X-1, and the USAF team worked hard. Remember by trashing the event you are also taking the accomplishment away from the whole team that worked on the X-1.
You may not like him, but that has nothing to do with the fact he was first. I love the Memphis Belle, and i would love to say it was first to 25 missions. But the TRUTH is that no one is sure who did it first. it is between 2 different B-17's, and a B-24. Records don't match up between group logs, and aircraft logs on any of those aircraft. however it takes nothing away from what the planes and crews did.

[The Inspector]

Chris,
If you've read CY's autobiography, according to him, he flew the mission, all three chase planes, the B-29, monitoed the radio and telemetry, met himself on the ramp and towed himself in while standing on the airplane, and congratulated himself when he got back to the ramp by not only leading the Air Force Band, but also by playing every single instrument in it.
He pretty much dismissed everyone who was involved in that flight.
He also publicly and loudly POO-POOed VOYAGERs flight as 'anyone with a big gas tank can fly around the world' while he was out setting time and speed records no one cares about in a PIPER CHIEFTAN flying between The Pondrosa and Happy Trails Ranch and Roundabout City

Look up bloviating windbag

[mustangdriver]

You are just proving my point though. You don't like Yeager. That is fine. He may deserve that. however you can't take away what he accomplished in history because you don't like him. Just as in sports, Pete Rose was and still may be a jerk, however you can't take away his stats or what he did in history.

[Pogmusic]

Well said Mustangdriver.

[Owen Miller]

Very well put Chris. I don't see how
anyone could argue with that.

[Clifford Bossie]

Well put Chris. Facts is facts, and the facts show that Yeager (no matter what anyone thinks of him) was El Numero Uno. There ain't any proof that anyone else did it first.

[Bill Greenwood]

No reasonable person doubts that Yeager is a great pilot and a brave guy. And it might be that his is the official first due to having the measuring devices.
However, when you read more about the story, there is evidence for Welch. Other people in the area heard the sonic boom from his flight. And I have never read any disparaging character stories that would indicate that he would lie about it.
I 'm not sure, but thought they broke the sound barrier a 2nd time after Yeager did it

Last edited by Bill Greenwood on Thu Oct 14, 2010 12:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Bill Greenwood]

No reasonable person doubts that Yeager is a great pilot and a brave guy. And it might be that his is the official first due to having the measuring devices.
However, when you read more about the story, there is evidence for Welch. Other people in the area heard the sonic boom from his flight. And I have never read any disparaging character stories that would indicate that he would lie about it.
I 'm not sure, but thought they broke the sound barrier a 2nd time after Yeager did it.

I was thinking I met his partner from Pearl Harbor at a Minn Airshow.

[mustangdriver]

Bill that is correct that I beleive Yeager's X-1 flight went to mach 1.05 or around there. Later in that month the XF-86 hit mach 1.02 in a dive. However we cant believe that sonic booms are evidence enough. The X-1 is believed to have broken the sound barrier on another flight with Yeager at the controls days before the official day even though there were no booms. Also people that say they heard the booms didn't know they would be hearing booms. So basically no one had ever heard one before. Now how many people do you know who are non pilots that have been to an airshow that they swear the t-birds broke the sound barrier when in fact they are doing a pass at like .8 or .9 So the only way to be 100% sure is the equipment.