When you
come into my bedroom, you will see two airplane models on my dresser. One is an
ugly orange airplane with a signature on one wing.
If you asked me about it, I would
respond with these words:
"This plane symbolizes what the
American spirit is all about."
The plane you would be looking at is a
model of the Bell X-1. On one wing is the signature of Chuck Yeager. In the
1940's, the US, Britain, The Soviet Union, Germany, and Japan had the
capability of building a manned aircraft that would fly faster than the speed
of sound. No one was able to pull it off. Right before an airplane reaches the
speed of sound, it goes through the transonic zone. It starts to buffet wildly.
Every attempt to break the sound barrier ended in a crash. The pilots always
died. It appeared that it would be impossible to fly a manned aircraft faster
than the speed of sound.
A small start-up aircraft company in
Buffalo, New York, took up the challenge to build a manned aircraft that would
fly faster than the speed of sound. Bell Aircraft and its young team of
engineers decided to do the impossible. They refused to believe the words:
"I can't."
They discovered that the whole secret to
breaking the sound barrier was the tail assembly of the airplane, They designed
a tail assembly that would allow an aircraft to go through the rough ride of
the transonic zone and break the sound barrier. On October 14, 1947, a 24- year-old
US AIr Force captain named Charles "Chuck" Yeager took a ride on a
B-29 bomber. Under its bomb bay was the Bell X-1 rocket plane, Yeager climbed
into this plane and strapped in. He was dropped. A rocket engine ignited. He
was blasted toward 760 miles per hour. It was a wild ride full of fear. Yeager
was not sure that he would survive the violent turbulence. He heard a loud
boom. The plane started to fly smoothly. He became the first human being to fly
faster than the speed of sound.
Yesterday General Charles Yeager left us
after an incredible life spanning 97 years.
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