Chuck Yeager Gives Tour of Bell X-1

Started by ♠SARKID♠, June 14, 2009, 12:03:26 AM

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♠SARKID♠

Found this video from '97 on airshowbuzz.com of Chuck Yeager giving Ed Shipley a tour of the X-1 cockpit.  The X-1 was the first plane to go supersonic.  This is the first time Yeager had been in the jet since the late 1940s.

http://www.airshowbuzz.com/videos/view.php?v=6275eb84

DC

Out of curiosity, was that the actual X-1 ('Glamorous Glennis', after Yeager's wife) that he broke the sound barrier in?

And the X-1 was rocket propelled, not jet...

♠SARKID♠

Quote from: DC on June 14, 2009, 12:17:53 AM
Out of curiosity, was that the actual X-1 ('Glamorous Glennis', after Yeager's wife) that he broke the sound barrier in?

And the X-1 was rocket propelled, not jet...

I believe so.  It is Glamourous Glennis, and his signature from year 194X is in there.

ol'fido

Actually, I believe in that era(WW II and after) that rockets were referred to as jets. Not sure of the reason for this but I do recall reading this point at some time. This is why JATO or Jet Assisted Take Off is so named even though the packs used rockets. To further confuse the issue, the units were also referred to a RATO or Rocket Assisted Take Off at some point.
Lt. Col. Randy L. Mitchell
Historian, Group 1, IL-006

DC

Quote from: olefido on June 14, 2009, 01:05:25 AM
Actually, I believe in that era(WW II and after) that rockets were referred to as jets. Not sure of the reason for this but I do recall reading this point at some time. This is why JATO or Jet Assisted Take Off is so named even though the packs used rockets. To further confuse the issue, the units were also referred to a RATO or Rocket Assisted Take Off at some point.
That may be true, but it's not done anymore...

In any event, the argument over whether the aircraft should be called a rocket plane or a jet is well and truly pointless. That's really neat that Yeager was able to get into his old steed and show it off after 70 or so years...

MikeD

Interesting point of trivia from when he spoke at work.  Apparently he was over at the Smithsonian to take a look at it at some point in the later 40s or early 50s, (when NACA was still flying the later model X-1s), and he saw a couple NACA guys with screwdrivers "borrowing" a part since something broke.

Also, about 50 years after the name change he kept calling us NACA.  :(

Gunner C

The man is truly amazing!  They just don't make heroes like that any more.

BTW, did he say that he did a ground launch - fired two motors at once so he wouldn't get any yaw?  I know they tried that with the X-2, but didn't know the X-1 was tested on anything but an air launch.

CadetProgramGuy

Just found a website for the ground launch of the X-1.

http://members.tripod.com/derekhorne/yeagerx1.html

Quote
Yeager made another 21 flights in the X-1 after the first supersonic flight. None of them were routine. But perhaps the most significant would be his flight of January 5, 1949. The Air Force were getting more than a touch "ticked off" at the Navy who had been taking cheap shots at the X-1. The Navy announced that their Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak was the first truly supersonic aircraft because it could take off from the ground under its own power (the D-558-1 only ever made one supersonic flight and that was only barely in control!).

Colonel Fred J. Ascani was sent to Edwards AFB by Colonel Albert Boyd to direct the ground launch project. The amount of fuel required was carefully calculated by Jackie "The Brain" Ridley. Firing all 4 rocket chambers simultaneously, the X-1 streaked off down the runway. After about 1500 feet, Yeager raised the nose at 200mph and the X-1 jumped into the air. The X-1 was accelerating so [darn] fast that when he flipped the gear handle up, the actuating rod snapped off and the wing flaps blew off. Only 80 seconds after ignition, the x-1 was at Mach 1.03 and 23,000 feet. Yeager set a time to climb record to 20,000 feet that would stand for some time.

DG

Quote from: ♠SARKID♠ on June 14, 2009, 12:03:26 AM
Found this video from '97 on airshowbuzz.com of Chuck Yeager giving Ed Shipley a tour of the X-1 cockpit.  The X-1 was the first plane to go supersonic.  This is the first time Yeager had been in the jet since the late 1940s.

http://www.airshowbuzz.com/videos/view.php?v=6275eb84


THANKS for posting!

GREAT video memoir!