Aviation links: X-planes (special edition)

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The X-planes are a series of experimental United States aircraft (and some rockets) used for testing of new technologies and usually kept highly secret during development.

The first of these, the Bell X-1, originally XS-1 (The "S" stood for supersonic), became well-known as the first plane to break the sound barrier, which it did in 1947.

It was built by Bell Aircraft Company.Its fuselage was modeled on a 50-caliber bullet because that was the one shape that aerodynamics experts knew did not tumble at supersonic speeds. On October 14, 1947, the X-1, piloted by Captain Charles (Chuck) Yeager reached a speed of 700 miles per hour (1,127 kilometers per hour) while at 45,000 feet (13,716 meters), breaking the sound barrier, Mach 1. Mach number is defined as a ratio of the speed of an object or flow relative to the speed of sound in the medium through which it is travelling.The Mach number is named after Austrian physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach.

Later X-planes yielded important research results, but only the North American X-15 rocket plane of the early 1960s achieved comparable fame. Most X-planes are not expected to ever go into full-scale production, and usually only a few are produced.

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X-1 / XS-1 / X-1A / X-1B /X-1E
Supersonic Flight Research
1946 - 1958