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Interesting US History
A Website Devoted to Interesting Events in U.S. History

 

 
 

 

ON THIS DAY IN UNITED STATES HISTORY

October 14, 1947

Chuck Yeager is Credited With Being the First to Pilot
an Aircraft in Controlled Level Supersonic Flight

On this day in 1947, Air Force Captain Charles "Chuck" Yeager flew the rocket-powered Bell X-1 aircraft faster than the speed of sound (supersonic) in controlled level flight.

The aircraft was recorded at Mach 1.06 (807.2 mph) peak speed. Although this was the first flight recorded in supersonic flight, Yeager and others believe they had reached that important milestone in a previous flight. Although the previous flight was only recorded at Mach .997, the measurements were not accurate enough to confirm or refute the claim.