This week in Edwards flight test history: Yeager breaks sound barrier

  • Published
  • 412th Test Wing Public Affairs
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  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."