Chuck Yeager and the Bell X-1 Rocket Plane
by Don Struke
Title
Chuck Yeager and the Bell X-1 Rocket Plane
Artist
Don Struke
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
(NOTE: The Fine Art America watermark seen in the preview windows does not appear on actual prints.)
Two days before Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in this Bell X-1 rocket-powered aircraft, he bashed up a rib or two while horseback riding at Pancho Barnes' ranch. (You might like to Google her name.) A quick try proved his injuries would make it impossible to pull the X-1's hatch shut. The ultra high tech solution at the dawn of America's space age (the X-1 could reach 90,000 feet): A sawed-off broom handle with a hook on one end. On October 14, 1947, Yeager reached Mach 1, the first to do so in level flight. His flight also established a record for the world's fastest broomstick.
George Welch had broken the sound barrier, too, in an F-86 Sabre the morning of Yeager's record flight, but he dove the Sabrejet to do it. A point of interest is that Welch and another U.S. Army Air Corps pilot, Ken Taylor, were the only fighter pilots who got into the air during the Japanese December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, downing several enemy airplanes and damaging others with their Curtis P-40s (the plane soon to be made famous by the Flying Tigers).
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April 20th, 2012
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Viewed 1,860 Times - Last Visitor from Fairfield, CT on 04/23/2024 at 4:49 AM
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Comments (7)
Sharon Gonzalez
Fascinating collage, Don. Each photo is a gem and put together it is superb.
Don Struke replied:
Thank you, Sharon! What an interesting era this was and, thankfully, we have many photos to help memorialize it.
Shanina Conway
Fantastic montage and what a great story Don:)
Don Struke replied:
There's a motel-lounge near Edwards Air Force Base, the California site of most of the early rocket plane (and much more) testing. It was called Muroc back then. Many of the NASA (our once-viable space agency) people stay there and it seems every wall is covered with pilots' and airplane photos and other flying-related material. I stay there anytime I'm at the Willow Springs race track, and it's a treat to see all of the aviation bits and think about Chuck Yeager and all the other "Right Stuff" heroes who have also stayed there.
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