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Photographs and text chronicle World War II ace Charles "Chuck" Yeager's quest to fly supersonically and profile the people and aircraft that made it possible for him to break the sound barrier.
A fascinating review of the record-breaking experimental aircraft of the future currently being built and tested by the U.S. Air Force and NASA. The X-Planes, drawing on recently declassified information, is the first comprehensive book on the experimental aircraft. 335 photos and 30 scale drawings.
In 1947, no one knew if it was possible to break the 'sound barrier'. The Bell X-1 was the tiny, rocket-powered craft that finally broke it. It was the result of innovative designers and engineers turning their attention from the pioneering jets of World War II to a new task – an aircraft designed purely to fly faster than sound. Legendary pilots rallied to the cause, with World War II ace Chuck Yeager piloting the X-1 when it finally achieved supersonic flight in 1947, the first manned craft to reach such speeds. With historical photographs and meticulously researched digital art, Peter Davies traces the whole career of the pioneering Bell X-1, from its early development through to the influence it had on military and civilian jets in the second half of the 20th century.
'The secret to my success is that I always managed to live to fly another day.'General Chuck Yeager was the fist man to fly faster than the speed of sound. He was also the World War II fighting ace who shot down a Messerschmitt jet with a prop-driven P-51 Mustang - Chuck Yeager is The Right Stuff.He first joined the US Air Force at eighteen, fresh from school, and by twenty-two had risen through the ranks on the wings of his heroic exploits dogfighting over the flak-filled skies of Nazi Europe. But it was in 1947 that Yeager achieved worldwide recognition as the first test pilot to smash the sound barrier, flying the super-secret Bell X-1 despite cracked ribs from a riding accident.This was truly the Golden Age of Aviation, the exciting leap into the supersonic era - the daredevil, death-defying days of the true winged heroes. And Chuck Yeager was there every step of the way - fighting and winning.
In 1945 some experts still considered the so-called sound barrier an impenetrable wall, while winged rocket planes remained largely relegated to science fiction. But soon a series of unique rocket-powered research aircraft and the dedicated individuals who built, maintained, and flew them began to push the boundaries of flight in aviation’s quest to move ever higher, ever faster, toward the unknown. Beyond Blue Skies examines the thirty-year period after World War II during which aviation experienced an unprecedented era of progress that led the United States to the boundaries of outer space. Between 1946 and 1975, an ancient dry lakebed in California’s High Desert played host to a series of rocket-powered research aircraft built to investigate the outer reaches of flight. The western Mojave’s Rogers Dry Lake became home to Edwards Air Force Base, NASA’s Flight Research Center, and an elite cadre of test pilots. Although one of them—Chuck Yeager—would rank among the most famous names in history, most who flew there during those years played their parts away from public view. The risks they routinely accepted were every bit as real as those facing NASA’s astronauts, but no magazine stories or free Corvettes awaited them—just long days in a close-knit community in the High Desert. The role of not only the test pilots but the engineers, aerodynamicists, and support staff in making supersonic flight possible has been widely overlooked. Beyond Blue Skies charts the triumphs and tragedies of the rocket-plane era and the unsung efforts of the men and women who made amazing achievements possible.
From "America's nerviest journalist" (Newsweek)--a breath-taking epic, a magnificent adventure story, and an investigation into the true heroism and courage of the first Americans to conquer space. "Tom Wolfe at his very best" (The New York Times Book Review) Millions of words have poured forth about man's trip to the moon, but until now few people have had a sense of the most engrossing side of the adventure; namely, what went on in the minds of the astronauts themselves - in space, on the moon, and even during certain odysseys on earth. It is this, the inner life of the astronauts, that Tom Wolfe describes with his almost uncanny empathetic powers, that made The Right Stuff a classic.
On October 14, 1947, flying the Bell X-1 rocket plane, Chuck Yeager burst through the mythical sound barrier at mach 1.0, to become the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound. Yeager's epic flight was the culmination of hours of work and flying time by a group of dedicated aviation pioneers, and it marked the beginning of flight testing as we know it. Who were these men? What were the aeronautical hurdles they cleared to usher in the space age and manned space flight? In the quest for Mach One, members of the Mach One team come together to chronicle the entire X-1 programme. They are Chuck Yeager, test pilot; Bob Cardenas, mother ship pilot; Bob Hoover, backup and chase pilot; and Jack Russell, Yeager's X-1 crew chief. Theirs is a saga of camaraderie, technical brilliance and heroism.
On October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager flew his experimental aircraft at more than 700 miles per hour to become the first person to break the sound barrier.
Aces Wild goes much further than this duel. Blackburn traces the history of fighter planes from the start of World War II at Pearl Harbor through the transition to jets in the 1950s. The author reveals the views on supersonic flight before and after 1947 by pilots, scientists, engineers, business interests, the government, and the media.
Spaceflight historian Amy Shira Teitel tells the riveting story of the female pilots who each dreamed of being the first American woman in space. When the space age dawned in the late 1950s, Jackie Cochran held more propeller and jet flying records than any pilot of the twentieth century—man or woman. She had led the Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots during the Second World War, was the first woman to break the sound barrier, ran her own luxury cosmetics company, and counted multiple presidents among her personal friends. She was more qualified than any woman in the world to make the leap from atmosphere to orbit. Yet it was Jerrie Cobb, twenty-five years Jackie's junior and a record-holding pilot in her own right, who finagled her way into taking the same medical tests as the Mercury astronauts. The prospect of flying in space quickly became her obsession. While the American and international media spun the shocking story of a "woman astronaut" program, Jackie and Jerrie struggled to gain control of the narrative, each hoping to turn the rumored program into their own ideal reality—an issue that ultimately went all the way to Congress. This dual biography of audacious trailblazers Jackie Cochran and Jerrie Cobb presents these fascinating and fearless women in all their glory and grit, using their stories as guides through the shifting social, political, and technical landscape of the time.
