 In 1947, Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1. In 1953, he was out to double that speed record, but he wasn't the only one. I'm Amy Shearer, and today on Vintage Space, we're talking about the race to reach Mach 2. In the early 1950s, Scott Crossfield was one of a few test pilots flying at the high-speed flight station at the Edwards Air Force Base in California. An employee of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, Crossfield wasn't in the business of breaking records. He was employed to put new, cutting-edge aircraft through their paces and fly research flights. It fell to service pilots, pilots from the US Navy and Air Force like Chuck Yeager, to make those record-breaking flights. The thing was, Crossfield knew the airplanes he flew intimately, including the Douglas skyrocket. It was designed to fly about Mach 1.5, but Crossfield knew all of its intricacies and knew that he could take it to Mach 2. Unfortunately, he was ordered not to take the airplane to Mach 2 or even try for the flight. He had to leave that to one of the military pilots. But Crossfield really wanted to secure that record in the skyrocket. He was even willing to do it with Navy stamped all over the project, so the record would go to a service branch and not the NACA or himself. He went so far as to make a personal appeal to the Navy's liaison at Edwards, urging the service to put pressure on the NACA's director Hugh Dryden. It was the right time to secure a new record in the air, too. This was November of 1953, and December would be the 50th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first-ever heavier-than-air flight. A week after making his personal appeal, Crossfield got good news. He had one shot to break Mach 2. If he failed, he would have to step aside and let Jaeger make the flight in the X-1A. Crossfield's attempt came on November 20th of 1953, and he and the men who prepared the airplane for the flight tried every trick in the book to up their chances of success. They tried to cut down weight by replacing parts with lighter ones and even tried the novel technique of cold soaking the airplane. They pumped liquid oxygen into the plane hours before launch. It would settle and let them squeeze in a few extra pounds, and those few extra pounds could translate to a slightly longer engine burn. It all paid off. Crossfield separated from the B-29 launch plane at 32,000 feet. He flew up to 72,000 feet before arching over and descending to 62,000 feet, where he became the first man to fly through Mach 2. And he just made it. The top speed on the flight was registered at Mach 2.005. And unfortunately, Crossfield didn't hold the record of fastest man alive for very long. Yeager did come in and secure the record for himself in the X1A. He reached a top speed of Mach 2.44 on December 12th, just five days before the 50th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight. But that flight in the X1A nearly killed Yeager. But that is a story for another episode. Be sure to check back on Friday. In the meantime, check out the latest post on Vintage Space to see how this race to Mach 2 plays into the story of the X-15, and ultimately the story of manned spaceflight. And for daily Vintage Space updates, don't forget to follow me on Twitter as AST Vintage Space. And don't forget to subscribe right here so you never miss an episode.