On this day, Chuck Yeager made the first and only ground takeoff of the Bell XS-1 from the dry lake at Edwards. As the plane was designed to be dumped in flight, Yeager only had a half-load of fuel to limit stress on the landing gear. This allowed him to reach Mach 1.03 and 23000ft. At Yeager's initiative, this flight was a response from the USAF to the U.S. Navy critics who claimed that they would be the first to exceed Mach 1 with a ""real plane"" (meaning one that could takeoff on its own), with the Douglas D-558 skystreak. The Skystreak actually never exceeded Mach 1.0. The U.S. Navy would have to wait for the XFU7 to go supersonic in June 1950

#aviationhistory , #onthisdayinaviation , #onthisdayinaviationhistory , #otd , 2013 , Bell , National Air & Space Museum , National Mall , USA , Washington , Washington DC , X-1 , XS-1

Exposure Time	1/50 s
ApertureFNumber	f/5.0
ISO	500
Model	Canon EOS 30D
Lens	EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM
Focal Length	150 mm
Date Time of Original	2013:02:23 19:31:51

Author

Robin MORET

Created on

Saturday 23 February 2013

Posted on

Thursday 3 January 2019

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3209*1920

Tags

#aviationhistory, #onthisdayinaviation, #onthisdayinaviationhistory, #otd, 2013, Bell, National Air & Space Museum, National Mall, USA, Washington, Washington DC, X-1, XS-1

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