mike furline wrote:
I believe Icarus was the first to break the sound barrier. The heat build up from all that speed is what actually melted his wings, not the sun. He couldn't get that close to the sun because he didn't have the required O2 system installed.
I don't think NACA was around just yet, but it was certified by ΩΦΨΔ.
Heh heh heh...
Anyway, I saw this British film called the
Sound Barrier, and because it wasn't made in Hollywood, it must be true, right? Apparently you reverse the controls...
RyanShort1 wrote:
I guess what bothers me about it has nothing to do so much with Yeager as it does with the apparently elitist attitude that if it wasn't recorded, then it obviously didn't happen.
No, I dn't think that's the issue, just that the 'record' (i.e.
recorded achievement) goes to the Bell and some chap whose name escapes me.
And that said, if we are talking records, the Bell X-1 does
not qualify for the internationally recognised FAI record as it did not take off under its own power.
hurk130 wrote:
...He broke a rib the night before and went to the horse vet in Rosemond in the morning to get taped up. He was hurting so bad that he needed a different method for locking the door on the X-1 but he kept it a secret to just about everybody so he would not be taken off the flight and his backup pilot Bob Hoover would take the flight. He jeopardized the whole program for fame...
That, I think, is a very good point, and has to be weighed in the balance against the bravery that Mustangdriver is (rightly) ascribing to Yeager. Like a lot of brave me, there's a big drive by ego there, and just
personally, I prefer my brave men and heroes to have a degree of modesty and better judgement than Yeager's demonstrated.
Zachary wrote:
I don't think there is any doubt that the airframe did break the sound barrier at a later date, however, there is a pretty strong argument put forth by retired NASA/Air Force engineer Robert Kempel* that the XP-86 as first flown with the GE J35-C-3 could not have broken the sound barrier because the engine was not powerful enough to do the job.
I'd be interested to a reference to that discussion, because as we agree the airframe was capable of going supersonic, so therefore it's simply a question of how much dive and how much power is required. Or is it?
On that note,
speed records are usually required to be in level flight and based on two or more reciprocal runs to remove the wind and PE - KE energy conversion elements.
So thinking about it, we should remember that science, engineering and technology depends on quantified, measured and documented data that can be repeated to increase our pool of knowledge and be testable; that makes the F-86 claim of the time an interesting footnote at most, IMHO.
Regards,
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