Editing Bell X-1 (section)

==Operational history==
Bell Aircraft chief [[test pilot]] [[Jack Woolams]] became the first person to fly the XS-1. He made a glide-flight over [[Pinecastle Army Airfield]], in [[Florida]], on 19 January 1946. Woolams completed nine more glide-flights over Pinecastle, with the B-29 dropping the aircraft at {{convert|29000|feet}} and the XS-1 landing 12 minutes later at about {{convert|110|mph}}. In March 1946 the #1 rocket plane was returned to Bell Aircraft in [[Buffalo, New York]] for modifications to prepare for the powered flight tests. Four more glide tests occurred at [[Muroc Army Air Field]] near [[Palmdale, California]], which had been flooded during the Florida tests, before the first powered test on 9 December 1946. Two chambers were ignited, but the aircraft accelerated so quickly that one chamber was turned off until reignition at {{convert|35000|feet}}, reaching Mach 0.795. After the chambers were turned off the aircraft descended to {{convert|15000|feet}}, where all four chambers were briefly tested.{{r|ley194811}}<ref>Anderson, Clarence E. "Bud". [http://www.cebudanderson.com/initialglideflights.htm "Initial Glide Flights."] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070325164411/http://www.cebudanderson.com/initialglideflights.htm |date=March 25, 2007 }} ''cebudanderson.com''. Retrieved: 14 October 2009.</ref>

After Woolams died while practicing for the National Air Races in August 1946, [[Chalmers Goodlin|Chalmers "Slick" Goodlin]] was assigned as the primary Bell Aircraft test pilot for the X-1. Goodlin made the first powered flight on 9 December 1946. [[Alvin M. Johnston|Tex Johnston]], Bell's chief test pilot and program supervisor, made a test flight on 22 May 1947, after complaints about the slow progress of flight tests. According to Johnston, "The contract with the Air Corps defined the tests by Bell as onboard systems verification, handling characteristics evaluation, stability and control, and performance testing to Mach 0.99." After Johnston's initial flight at 0.72 Mach, he thought the airplane was ready for supersonic flights, after the longitudinal trim system was fixed, and three more test flights.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Johnston |first1=A.M. "Tex" |title=Tex Johnston, Jet-Age Test Pilot |date=1992 |publisher=Bantam |location=New York |isbn=9780553295870 |pages=81–86,104,115–126}}</ref>

The Army Air Force was unhappy with the cautious pace of flight envelope expansion and Bell Aircraft's flight test contract for airplane #46-062 was terminated. The test program was acquired by the Army Air Force Flight Test Division on 24 June after months of negotiation. Goodlin had demanded a US$150,000 bonus (equivalent to ${{inflation|US|.150000|1947|r=2|fmt=c}} million in {{inflation/year|US}}) for exceeding the speed of sound.<ref name="yeagerbio_86">Yeager and Janos 1986</ref>{{rp|96}}<ref name="right_stuff_52-53">Wolfe 1979, pp. 52–53.</ref><ref>Anderson, Clarence E. "Bud". [http://www.cebudanderson.com/aturningpoint.htm "A Turning Point."] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070402001246/http://www.cebudanderson.com/aturningpoint.htm |date=April 2, 2007 }} ''cebudanderson.com''. Retrieved: 14 October 2009.</ref> Flight tests of the X-1-2 (serial 46-063) would be conducted by NACA to provide design data for later production high-performance aircraft.

===Mach 1 flight===
[[File:Chuck Yeager.jpg|thumb|left|[[Chuck Yeager]] in front of the X-1 that he nicknamed the ''Glamorous Glennis''.]]
The first manned [[supersonic]] flight occurred on 14 October 1947, over the [[Mojave Desert]] in [[California]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/X-1-airplane|title=Bell X-1|publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=English|accessdate=8 December 2022}}</ref> less than a month after the [[U.S. Air Force]] had been created as a separate service. [[Captain (United States O-3)|Captain]] [[Chuck Yeager|Charles "Chuck" Yeager]] piloted USAF aircraft #46-062, nicknamed ''Glamorous Glennis'' for his wife. The airplane was [[drop launch]]ed from the bomb bay of a B-29 and reached Mach 1.06 ({{convert|700|mph|km/h kn}}).<ref name=NTRS>{{cite book |last=Hallion |first=Richard P. |year=2012 |editor-last=Dick |editor-first=Steven J. |title=NASA 50th Anniversary Proceedings : NASA's First 50 Years, Historical Perspectives |url=https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/607087main_NASAsFirst50YearsHistoricalPerspectives-ebook.pdf |publisher=US National Aeronautics and Space Admin |pages=223–274 |chapter=Chapter 10: The NACA, NASA, and the Supersonic-Hypersonic Frontier |isbn=978-0-16-084965-7}}</ref> Following burnout of the engine, the plane glided to a landing on the dry lake bed.<ref name="yeagerbio_86" />{{rp|129–130}} This was XS-1 flight number 50.
[[File:Yeager supersonic flight 1947.ogv|thumb|Yeager exceeded [[Speed of sound|Mach 1]] on 14 October 1947 in the X-1.]]
The three main participants in the X-1 program won the [[National Aeronautics Association]] [[Collier Trophy]] in 1948 for their efforts. Honored at the [[White House]] by [[Harry S. Truman|President Truman]] were [[Lawrence Dale Bell|Larry Bell]] for Bell Aircraft, Captain Yeager for piloting the flights, and [[John Stack (engineer)|John Stack]] for the contributions of the NACA.

The story of Yeager's 14 October flight was leaked to a reporter from the magazine [[Aviation Week and Space Technology|''Aviation Week'']], and the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' featured the story as headline news in their 22 December issue. The magazine story was released on 20 December. The Air Force threatened legal action against the journalists who revealed the story, but none ever occurred.<ref>Powers, Sheryll Goeccke. "Women in Flight Research at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center from 1946 to 1995," ''Monographs in Aerospace History,'' Number 6, 1997, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D. C.</ref> The news of a straight-wing supersonic aircraft surprised many American experts, who like their German counterparts during the war believed that a swept-wing design was necessary to break the sound barrier.{{r|ley194811}} On 10 June 1948, [[United States Secretary of the Air Force|Air Force Secretary]] [[Stuart Symington]] announced that the sound barrier had been repeatedly broken by two experimental airplanes.<ref name=mjfmftsd>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UuFQAAAAIBAJ&pg=4694%2C4552556 |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal |title=Flights 'much faster than sound' confirmed by the U.S. Air Force |date=June 10, 1948 |page=1, part 1}}</ref><ref name=ppgfsnd>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AAwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2734%2C2355693 |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |agency=Associated Press |title=Two U.S. planes fly faster than sound |date=June 11, 1948 |page=4}}</ref>

On 5 January 1949, Yeager used Aircraft #46-062 to perform the only conventional (runway) launch of the X-1 program, attaining {{convert|23000|ft|m|abbr=on}} in 90 seconds.<ref name="Miller pp. 21–35">Miller 2001, pp. 21–35.</ref>

===Legacy===
In 1997, the United States Postal Service issued a fiftieth anniversary commemorative stamp recognizing the Bell X1-6062 aircraft as the first aeronautical vehicle to fly at [[supersonic speed]] of approximately {{convert|1.06|Mach}}.

The Bell X-1 is also the subject of a toy version in the ''[[Arthur (TV series)|Arthur]]'' episode "Arthur's Big Hit". In that episode, Arthur's sister D.W. tries to let it fly out the window, but it ends up falling to the ground and breaking. This resulted in a classic moment in which [[Arthur Read|Arthur]] clenches his fist and punches D.W.; this moment has since become a popular meme.