 proudly we hail from New York City where the American stage begins here is another program with a cast of outstanding players public service time has been made available by this station for your army and your Air Force to bring you this story as proudly we hail Major Charles E. Yeager United States Air Force our story is entitled flight through sound the story of the ever-growing pioneer spirit of our United States Air Force the story of the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound our first act curtain will rise in just a moment but first young man take your place in the new jet age as an Air Force aviation cadet you'll get 18 months of intensive training learn all about jet operation and you'll be surprised how easy jets are to fly and how safe to aviation cadets graduate as Air Force lieutenants with earnings of over $5,000 a year to qualify you must be between the ages of 19 and 26 and a half single and have at least two years of college visit your nearest United States Army and United States Air Force recruiting station for details and now your army and your Air Force present the proudly we hail production flight through sound Chuck Yeager they mean anything to you it should Chuck Yeager and the X1 the first man and the first plane to fly through the dreaded shockwaves that come at the speed of sound and live to tell the tale Chuck Yeager and the X1 will both go down in history because their flight through sound was well historic at the time Chuck Yeager made his flight it was widely believed that when an aircraft reached the speed of sound it would disintegrate and there was none to say it wouldn't many planes had disintegrated in midair when coming close to the sonic wall many a good man too many had lost his life because his plane got out of control and it approached the speed of sound none had reached or surpassed the speed of sound and returned to talk about it three men are talking in a bare room at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base the Air Force's giant research and testing field outside of Dayton Ohio the season is mid-summer and hot the year 1947 the men are Colonel Albert Boyd commanding officer of Edwards Air Force Base at Murroc Lake California Captain Jack Ridley flight test engineer and Captain Charles E. Yeager a pilot Captain Yeager has obviously just been called into the conference there's an air of informality in the room Colonel Boyd is talking well that's the way it is Yeager now you're not being ordered to do anything we just want to explain the problem to you I'll be the flight test engineer Chuck and I think I can explain to you what you might want to know but you have to know what this is all about before you can answer maybe I can cut this short make it easier for you you've got a new project for me you want me to take Bell aircraft's new X1 up and test it right but it isn't a normal testing job the X1 isn't really a plane it's a flying laboratory that was built for one purpose to see if man can fly a plane faster than the speed of sound I saw to guess that Bell had a pilot a good man it tested the X1 he took it up about mark point eight and then he backed out maybe he wasn't as curious as I am so they give the X1 to another pilot and he went through the same performance he was willing to test any plane but he wasn't going to try to fly through the sound barrier for any amount of money I want you to know all this I I don't think any less of those men if the plane can do it someone's going to try them why not me as much as a person can know about anything that's never been done I know that that plane can fly through the sound barrier what'll happen then we don't know where do we go Edwards Air Force Base Murock Lake California we'll do a lot of talking about this though before we start Colonel Boyd excuse me my name is Kenneth Banghardt I've been listening and I've got some questions there are some things I don't understand maybe you could help me well I can guess a few what is marked mm-hmm how fast is sound right that's right well the speed of sound varies with the temperature and the density of the air now roughly at sea level at about 60 degrees Fahrenheit the speed of sound is about 760 miles per hour mm-hmm now the temperature gets lower so does the speed of sound as you go higher now at about 35,000 feet the temperature levels off to minus 67 degrees that's 67 below zero and it stays that way up to over 100,000 feet and all through that the speed of sound is constant at 662 miles an hour so the speed of sound varies between 660 and 760 miles an hour that's that's about a mile every five seconds that doesn't seem so fast about 12 miles a minute wait that's not 12 miles an hour that's 12 miles a minute right and now for a mark that's the speed of sound instead of calibrating instruments for high speeds and miles per hour you see we do it in terms of mark mark one is a speed of sound now three quarters of the speed of sound say around 540 miles an hour we call that mark point seven five I see so it looks as though sound travels through the air about as fast as anything can without causing trouble the shockwaves begin at what you call the sonic wall the sound barrier yes that's right and beyond that speed the air just doesn't get out of the way in a normal fashion it punches up into fists that can punch holes through the toughest metals well that can cause aircraft to disintegrate in midair now we don't know all the things shockwaves can do we just know they're there and that nice soft stuff the air we breathe and live in can't do without well it suddenly isn't soft anymore it becomes an enemy pilots had hit that sound barrier long before Chuck Yeager but none had gone through if they did get through they didn't come back to tell the tale and neither did their instruments it was captain Yeager's project now to nurse the X1 through a series of tests until they flew through the sound wall and came back to let the engineers know what lay beyond why did they choose Chuck Yeager for this well maybe if we find out a little about him we'll know maybe we should ask him a few questions where are you from captain Yeager Hamlin West Virginia I suppose you never heard of it it's only a small town about 850 people I went to school there graduated from the Hamlin High School when I was 18 so that fall I enlisted in the Air Force I starved out as a mechanic but after a while they sent me out to a flying school in California and made me into a pilot guess that's all there is to it that's all there was to it he says well he was transferred to Victorville California where he met a pretty dark-haired girl named Glenis Dickhouse Chuck Yeager received his wings in March of 1943 there was a dance afterwards and flight officer Yeager was there with his girl let's go outside a minute Glenis you know this can't come as any surprise to you I love you I know ever since I first met you first I looked and thought boy well then I thought isn't she pretty and then I thought I'd like to meet her and I did and it was you I knew you were thinking something like that I knew you were looking at me you had a sunburn and your eyes were so blue and honest and you look well I don't know a little shy and frightened so that I wanted to comfort you but at the same time you look very competent as though you knew just what you were doing we're able to take care of yourself and I think I figured you could take care of me too I'd like to will you marry me you know my answer there are so many things we have to do I want you to meet my family want them to meet you and I wish I didn't have to go away but I'll be back I'll be waiting I'll name my planes for you Glenis when it looked odd oh not just Glenis beautiful Glenis no glorious wait a minute I've got it glamorous Glenis that's you they better treat you nicely these glamorous Glenis and bring you back to me or I'll I'll disown them they will I'll be back it was wartime all over the country young lovers were being parted flight officer Charles Jager was assigned to the 363rd fighter squadron of the 357th fighter group and sent first to Tonopanavada and then at the end of 1943 to England Chuck Jager made quite a record for himself he was shot down over occupied France escape with the help of the French resistance forces to Spain walk through that country until he reached Gibraltar and the RAF going back to England by the end of the war he had flown 64 missions down to 13 German planes he was Captain Jager by then and the holder of the distinguished flying cross the bronze star medal the air medal and the purple heart and enough oak leaf clusters to start a forest Captain Jager went home then to marry his Glenis he continued flying first at Perron Field in Texas and then at the fighter flight test branch at Wright Air Force Base Ohio outside of Dayton that's where he met Colonel Boyd and where Colonel Boyd and Captain Ridley started talking to him about the X-1 Chuck Jager went home and talked it over with Glenis you know you've been here at Wright almost two years now yes Colonel Boyd is running the show out at Edwards in California you'd like me to go with him you want to what would the work be it won't be a desk job honey it'll be a long time before I become a chair-borne flyer I hope you'd like me to get into something else wouldn't you I would never ask you to if I were to tell you that I didn't worry every time you went up I'd be telling a lie but I worried about you so much during the war and then when you were missing but I came back that's what I keep telling myself and you were a flyer when I met you and when I said I'd marry you and I sort of like you you know just the way you are well that's a good thing for you that you do because on the stubborn type and I don't change easily and I wouldn't give you up so it looks as though you are stuck with me a terrible fate but I'll try to bear up all right and bear up under the rest of your fate we're going back to California Edwards Air Force Base Murak Lake that's us special flight test command like it I'll be glad to get back to California but why Murak Lake I lived in Northern California all my life and never heard of Murak Lake until I married the Air Force well Murak's not really what you call Northern California it's about 70 miles inland from Los Angeles and Mojave Desert and it's about the best landing field in the world a lake what have they got in it the world's largest flat top well it would have a hard time moving because Murak Lake is a dried lake completely level completely flat with the mud baked out hard 11 miles long four miles wide the whole thing like a huge runway and what goes on it oh secret yes some of it that's where we test planes new planes and new designs you've got room to make a mistake in landing or taking off on the big lake you can come down fast and roll for miles they get planes from all over the country and they're getting us but what will you be doing there testing dear testing I shall be quote one of those anonymous flyers whose names are never known but without whom aviation progress could not continue unquote who knows I may get a chance to to be the first person to do something start something new change the way people live you are listening to the proudly we hail production flight through sound we'll return in just a moment for the second act college men you can learn to fly the latest and fastest jets easily and safely as an Air Force aviation cadets aviation cadets get 18 months of tough concentrated jet training leading to a lieutenants commission in the Air Force and earnings of more than $5,000 a year your future is unlimited to qualify you must be between the ages of 19 and 26 and a half single and have at least two years of college visit your local United States Army and United States Air Force recruiting station now you are listening to proudly we hail and now we present the second act of flight through sound captain Yeager and his wife Glennis and Donald age to Michael one move to Murak Lake captain Yeager has flown the X1 often testing its performance it's the middle of October 1947 as she is Glenn the X1 my project that playing what did you expect the flying box car well most of the fighter planes are larger than that well sure but they have to be this was built for just one purpose to carry me and a lot of equipment I don't know what I really expected to see but not this what makes this one so special what makes it go so fast well as you can see there are no propellers no air scoops for jets it's rockets rockets powerful enough to someday send us to the moon hey they're pulling it away you're well we're standing here with our teeth and our mouth tractors pulling your plane away hi Jack we're all set Chuck how about you anytime where's Cardenas back there checking over his B-29 that won't take long you better check in I picked up your assignment cards okay thanks no change in the assignment just the things we lined up that's right short one this time okay bye Glenn oh bye why don't you stick around Glenn us and watch the test I think I can stand it oh sure sure this is pure routine just checking some adjustments we made maybe I will good you stay right here and make yourself comfortable maybe I can explain to you what's going on while you're watching although you probably know as much about what goes on as I do from Chuck are you kidding she's taking off now that's right there's the X1 nestled under the superboard like a little I don't know bird or something it's a piggyback ride in reverse but how does this help I mean if it can go so fast why does it need a mother plane to pick it up well you see it takes more effort to get the ship in the air to overcome the initial inertia it would use up a certain amount of the X1's limited fuel supply to get her off the ground to get her moving she's due to drop any minute drop well you know leave the B-29 and fly on her own watch oh there it goes going backwards no no that's just the way it looks you see it's just that the the X1 shoots away so fast what do you see what I'm getting at I think I'm getting the idea but Jack what really does happen at the speed of sound when you want to know something we don't really know your husband probably knows as much about that as any man alive but we don't know but we're coming closer to it every day and one of these days we'll find out Glen has didn't know it but she saw a semi-historic flight the last test flight of the X1 before the big one the next day when Captain Yeager left his pleasant little desert house he may have taken an extra long look at the kids when Glen has wasn't noticing when he got to the base and went into Colonel Boyd's office there was no sense in pretending that it was just another test this was the day the big one Major Cardenas tweeted him as he comes in how you feelin check scared stiff now stop the kidding boys you're gonna do something today that no man's ever done before smart enough to know what that means the thing is I'm curious enough to want to find out what happened good good as long as you feel that way now the main thing is don't take any unnecessary chances if everything doesn't seem just right don't do it I mean we'd rather have you come back without getting up to Mach 1 then have you go as fast as sound and well I'm not get back don't worry I'll be back all right it's October 14 1947 a date that has gone down in aviation history there goes the mothership carrying the X1 Major Cardenas is in command of the B 29 number 800 he will take the X1 a lot talk with Captain Yeager on the radio and tell him when to drop after the B 29 has attained the right altitude and speed then Major Cardenas task is finished and it's up to Captain Yeager and there go the only other craft that will be in the sky at the time the two F-80 chase planes that will observe the behavior of the X1 when she makes her pass at the unknown flight through sound we're up about 7,000 feet now Captain Yeager gets into the X1 through a little side door spends the next few minutes getting himself set putting on his oxygen mask checking all the controls looking over the instruments while Major Cardenas takes the two planes up higher and higher he looks through a narrow windshield a small window made not of plastic but of glass friction with the air might melt of plastic Captain Yeager sits there able to hear the engines of the B 29 that are carrying him in his X1 like an eagle with a rabbit in its claws waiting for word from Major Cardenas I'm turning on downward leg at 21,000 feet can you hear me Roger you all right fine except I'm scared stiff you always say that always in nuts I'm turning on the base leg five minutes to drop time five minutes four minutes three minutes to walk nobody knows to hit against the sound barrier to shake two pieces to find that sound puts up a wall that can't be broken through or climbed or detoured another hundred beats of the heart and then what Air Force 8-0-0 to NACA radar Edwards Tower F-80 chase aircraft one minute warning pilot to Yeager 30 seconds to drop time start your recording instruments at 15 I always do I know but I'm supposed to remind you hit all the numbers this time when you count you always forget one start your instruments I started 15 seconds to the unknown 15 seconds and each one is an eternity dropping clear Air Force 8-0-0 and exactly 1412 X1 drop clear X1 to Mirac Tower we're starting down first rocket feels like someone hitting me shoving me back it picks up speed so fast initial acceleration tremendous mark point six using second rocket point seven still accelerating rapidly mark point eight not picking up speed so fast using third rocket mark point nine beginning to get shock waves still in full control mark point nine four nine five using last rocket it's a bit mark point nine seven taking worse response to controls unevenly point nine eight point nine nine we're going to make it mark one we made it mark one faster now mark one point one one point two we did it vibration is all gone so sound running like a baby carriage going downhill no sound no vibration beyond mark one everything is quiet easy it's like a dream no vibration no shock waves no sound and then the little orange speedster began to slow down slow down what a thing to say slow down to 600 miles an hour it's used up its rockets its power is gone it's performed its function and Charles Jager the first man to fly faster than sound is performing common everyday tasks using compressed nitrogen to flush out any remainder of the dangerous locks and alcohol from his plane's propulsion system and it gets his speed down to a reasonable 165 miles an hour and lands on the hard dried mud of Murroc Lake to be greeted by flash bulbs and reporters and radio men no by Colonel Boyd and Captain Ridley and secrecy well how'd it go you ought to know just the way you plant it just the way you said it wouldn't you want to do it again anytime this now we've done it once there's only the beginning you mean it you'll go up again and do it tomorrow now that we know we can there are a lot of things we have to find out about supersonic's in fact there's almost everything to be found out it's a whole new world up there and that was the first flight through sound man earthbound spacebound man had done it again and opened a new door to the future that was October 14 1947 that flight earned captain now major Jager the Collier trophy and the Mackay trophy for outstanding service to aviation what's major Jager doing now he's testing highly classified aircraft only one step removed from the designers drawing boards and seemingly only another step from some of the craft described in science fiction some of these planes are perhaps as far ahead of their time as the x1 was when major Jager started a few years ago as he puts it we punch so many holes in the sonic wall you can still see them all over the Mojave desert and where's the x1 the plane the first flew faster than sound the x1 is at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC a study little orange colored plane on exhibition with other planes that made history rights and Langley's and Lindbergh's and others and the man who made the history well he's still making it for the United States Air Force proudly we hail Major Charles E. Jager the first man to fly faster than sound who enlisted in the Air Force as a private less than 12 years ago and proudly we hail all the airmen whose work and devotion to duty made the major's historic flight possible young man if you've had two years of college are single and otherwise qualified there's a future for you as an aviation cadet in the US Air Force you'll receive 18 months of the world's finest flight training fly the latest jets easily and safely and graduate as an Air Force Lieutenant with earnings of more than $5,000 a year the aviation cadets of today will be the leaders of the jet age be one of them visit your nearest United States Army and United States Air Force recruiting station today this has been another program on proudly we hail present a transcribed in cooperation with the station proudly we hail is produced by the recruiting publicity center for the United States Army and United States Air Force recruiting service this is Kenneth Fang heart speaking and inviting you to tune in the same station next week for another interesting story on proudly we hail