X-1E launch and landing

This 45 second movie clip shows X-1E launch from a B-29 and landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

The first of the rocket-powered research aircraft, the X-1 (originally designated the XS-1), was a bullet-shaped airplane that was built by the Bell Aircraft Company for the US Air Force and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The mission of the X-1 was to investigate the transonic speed range (speeds from just below to just above the speed of sound) and, if possible, to break the "sound barrier".

The first of the three X-1s was glide-tested at Pinecastle Field, FL, in early 1946. The first powered flight of the X-1 was made on Dec. 9, 1946, at Muroc Army Air Field (later redesignated Edwards Air Force Base) with Chalmers Goodlin, a Bell test pilot,at the controls.

On Oct. 14, 1947, with USAF Captain Charles "Chuck" Yeager as pilot, the aircraft flew faster than the speed of sound for the first time. Captain Yeager ignited the four-chambered XLR-11 rocket engines after being air-launched from under the bomb bay of a B-29 at 21,000 ft. The 6,000-lb thrust ethyl alcohol/liquid oxygen burning rockets, built by Reaction Motors, Inc., pushed him up to a speed of 700 mph in level flight.

Captain Yeager was also the pilot when the X-1 reached its maximum speed of 957 mph. Another USAF pilot. Lt. Col. Frank Everest, Jr., was credited with taking the X-1 to its maximum altitude of 71,902 ft. Eighteen pilots in all flew the X-1s. The number three plane was destroyed in a fire before evermaking any powered flights.

A single-place monoplane, the X-1 was 31 ft long, 10 ft high, and had a wingspan of 29 ft. It weighed 4,900 lb and carried 8,200 lb of fuel. It had a flush cockpit with a side entrance and no ejection seat.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• X-1E
• launch
• and
• landing

[MovieMad007]

@flubug1 he he he he!!! Big grin!!!

[flubug1]

@MovieMad007 Yep, and its actually McDonnell. Close enough for government work. lol

[MovieMad007]

@reiner707 WORLD LAND SPEED RECORD - BRITISH!!! RAF OFFICER WING COMMANDER ANDY GREEN DRIVES THRUST SSC AT BLACKROCK DESERT AT OVER 743MPH IN 1997! IN 2014 HE WILL DRIVE BLOODHOUND SSC AT OVER TWICE THE SPEED OF SOUND TO REACH 1000MPH! BLOODHOUND SSC DESIGNED AND BUILT IN BRITAIN! USING BOTH JET AND ROCKET PROPULSION!

[MovieMad007]

@reiner707 Internet! Sir Tim Berners Lee! He invented it!

[MovieMad007]

@flubug1 McDonell - isn't it? rather than McDonald

[flubug1]

@MovieMad007 Actually it was a part from a McDonald Douglas DC-10. Not Boeing.

[MrTrescojones]

nationalism has nothing to do with technological development in real life. British space rocketry was technologically unique not least because of its oxidant and propellant combination, and very effective. Apparently Robert Goddard contributed to the design of the XLR11 series engines used in the x1 series.

[MrTrescojones]

nice footage, rare and interesting plane

[MovieMad007]

@reiner707 We had Concorde the Americans DID NOT! THEY WERE HUgely disappointed with that - so much so they tried to come up with every excuse under the sun - to prevent it flying into New York! - but the fact remains that there was a niche market for that product and an audience willing to pay the price for it, so this Aerospace project lived on for almost a flawless 40 year record - until parts fell off an AMERICAN BOEING aircraft in Paris ending Concordes reign of supersonic passenger flight!

[MovieMad007]

@wellytopjohnny UK invented Radar! Sir Frank Whittle invented the Jet Engine! The Stealth Bomber wing design was developed by the Germans mid way into the 2nd WW.But did not have the technical know how to put it into production. Britain invented the Harrier jump jet - which won us the Falkland conflict. The same tech of the Harrier jump jet is now being put thru its paces in the JSF project (Joint Strike Fighter). The materials used in the tiles on the space shuttle developed byBritish company.