69 years ago someone had the "Right Stuff"

[FLPanhandle]

Yeager broke the sound barrier on October 14, 1947.

Seems like no big deal now, but he did that just 45 years after the Wright Brothers first flight, no computer modeling, just pilots going up and seeing what happened with each design.



On Oct. 14, 1947, on his ninth powered flight in the airplane, Capt. Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager piloted the Bell X-1 “Glamorous Glennis,” named after his wife, to a speed of 699.4 mph at 43,000 feet (Mach 1.06), and became the first to exceed the speed of sound. This X-1 flight established that aircraft could be designed to exceed the previously deemed “sound barrier."

[A HERETIC I AM]

1. I read that they designed the X-1 to look that way....

Last edited Fri Oct 14, 2016, 09:42 AM - Edit history (1)

because that's how bullets are shaped!

It may have been in his book, but that struck me as interesting. They really didn't know what fuselage shape would hold up at faster than the speed of sound, so they went with a common item they KNEW traveled that fast; a rifle bullet.

Yeager is an interesting guy.

[MicaelS]

2. Yes. It was designed after

The shape of a .50 bullet.

[VMA131Marine]

3. Uh, he's not dead.

So he still is an interesting guy.

[A HERETIC I AM]

5. Indeed you are correct, and I'll change that statement.

I've met the man, as he was the Pace Car driver at the 1990 Indianapolis 500, the first year I attended as a participant.

[zonkers]

7. One of my favorite Yeager quips (and I am butchering it) was something about exercise... he said

something like he didn't exercise... didn't want to use his heartbeats up any quicker than he needs to.

[tinrobot]

8. Actually, I heard that about Neil Armstrong

"Although he lived on a healthy regimen, Armstrong rarely exercised, often explaining that he believed that a man was given a set number of heartbeats in his life and he wasn’t going to do anything to use them up faster."

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/48790315/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/debunking-myths-about-neil-armstrong/#.WAD3L4JkDLE

[linuxman]

4. He's still alive, well, and sharp as ever.

Proud to be from the same state as his. A true American hero.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

6. Apparently he doesn't like the Brits.

[linuxman]

9. He doesn't like a lot of stuff. Unlike most people, he's not afraid of sharing.

Getting old has to be freeing as hell. When you know your odds of making it another 10 years are next to zero, you just kinda let it all out. Then again, Yeager strikes me as the kind of guy who never had a problem with it in his youth either.

[hunter]

10. Gotta be a little crazy to ride something like that.

Development of the engine began in 1943. Reaction Motors called the engine "Black Betsy", though informally it was referred to as "The Belching Black Bastard". Its first official designation was the 6000C4, and it was later given the military designation XLR11

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_X-1

The engine had an American pedigree, work on similar engines had begun before World War II, before the U.S.A. had swept up German rockets and rocket scientists.

The goal of the ARS (American Rocket Society) was simple: build rockets. Actually doing so was much harder, and in reality the ARS initially focused simply on building and testing rocket engines, not whole rockets. With no formal testing facilities, the group built a portable test stand of pipe to bolt their prototype engines to (called "static" testing). They would then set off on a weekend to find a remote North Jersey sand pit, field, or other suitably out-of-the-way area to test their engine.

Their pattern was always the same: set up; fuel engine; ignition (resulting in massive quantities of flame, smoke, and noise); make quick notes; break down, pack up, and leave. Quickly. Like before the police and fire department show up.

http://www.northjersey.com/community-news/remembering-the-rocketeers-1.915034

My grandpa gave me a plastic model of the X-1 to assemble. It was too simple, and likely the least expensive plastic model airplane kit sold. The next airplane model he gave me, one I remember with great nostalgia assembling, painting, and applying the decals to it, was the X-15.

Later I built a model X-15 rocket that actually flew. Once. That sort of soured me on expensive commercial model rockets. After that I started building my own rockets, some far more dangerous than any commercial models.

In spite of all that, I myself hate flying.

[Blue_Tires]

11. Nobody is going to post the clip??

[Brother Buzz]

12. Hey Ridley, got any Beeman's?