First Supersonic Flight
Chuck Yeager became the first pilot to break the sound barrier in the Bell X-1
October 14, 1947
Breaking the Sound Barrier
On October 14, 1947, U.S. Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager became the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound. He did it in a small experimental aircraft called the Bell X-1, which was painted bright orange and nicknamed "Glamorous Glennis" after his wife. The X-1 was dropped from a B-29 bomber at high altitude and then ignited its rocket engine. At Mach 1.06 — about 700 miles per hour — the sound barrier was broken for the first time in history.
What the Sound Barrier Actually Is
The "sound barrier" refers to the dramatic increase in air resistance an aircraft encounters as it approaches the speed of sound. Early jet aircraft would shake violently and become hard to control near Mach 1. Some engineers once believed the barrier was physically impossible to break. The X-1 was designed specifically to punch through it, with a thick fuselage shaped like a .50-caliber bullet — a shape known to be stable at supersonic speeds.
What Followed Yeager's Flight
Yeager's achievement opened the supersonic age of aviation. Military jets quickly pushed well beyond Mach 1. The SR-71 Blackbird spy plane could reach Mach 3.2 by the 1960s. Commercial supersonic flight arrived with the Concorde in 1976. Yeager remained a test pilot hero and continued breaking records for years. He lived to age 97, passing away in 2020. His courage on that October morning above the Mojave Desert changed the trajectory of aviation forever. Use our age calculator to reflect on how long ago this flight was.