Transport & space · 1947

Bell X-1 breaks sound barrier

Chuck Yeager flies a rocket plane past Mach 1 and proves supersonic flight is controllable.

On 14 October 1947 Yeager flew the X-1 to Mach 1.06 at about 13,000 m. The rocket-powered aircraft, shaped like a .50 caliber bullet, showed the transonic barrier could be passed. Its data guided supersonic fighters and Concorde.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 2

Liquid-fuel rocket 1926
Powered flight 1903

What it led to 1

Concorde 1969

Watch

The Moment Chuck Yeager Flew His Plane Past the Sound Barrier | Smithsonian ChannelSmithsonian Channel Aviation Nation · YouTube

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Selected milestones in human travel speed Latest: 39.9k km/h (1969) Source: Wikipedia: Horse gait (gallop 40-48 km/h); Wikipedia: List of speed records in rail transport