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The American who almost certainly first exceeded the mythical \u201csound barrier\u201d was a former Army Air Forces war hero. His name? George Welch.<\/p>\n
Those with knowledge of aviation history might recognize the name. Yes, that would be the same George Welch who (along with Ken Taylor) was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for aerial heroics at Pearl Harbor. Welch went on to become one of America\u2019s premier World War II aces, with 16 confirmed kills by late 1943. <\/p>\n
Unfortunately, Welch was flying in the South Pacific. Malaria nailed him \u2013 badly. It was severe enough to send him stateside early from the Pacific. And after serving stateside for a while, with the Army\u2019s blessing he left the service to become a test pilot for North American Aviation.<\/p>\n
Shortly after World War II, North American was developing the F-86. It was capable of high subsonic speed. Had we known about \u201carea rule\u201d design as applied to supersonic aircraft at that time, it would almost certainly have been America\u2019s first supersonic aircraft.<\/p>\n
Now, Welch wasn\u2019t a big fan of Bell Aircraft. They\u2019d designed the P-39 Aircobra which Welch flew early in World War II. When asked what he liked about the Aircobra, Welch said, “Well, it’s got twelve hundred pounds of Allison armor plate.”<\/i><\/a> (Welch was referring to the aircraft\u2019s engine, which was built by Allison and located behind the pilot. Performance-wise the Aircobra itself was a dog; Welch later got himself transferred to a unit flying Lockheed P-38s.)<\/p>\n Welch knew that Bell Aircraft was preparing to go supersonic with their experimental X-1 in the near future, at Muroc Field (what is today Edwards AFB). Bell had the Air Force\u2019s blessing; the X-1 project was an Air Force favorite, and reputedly President Truman had promised Bell\u2019s board chairman that Bell would be the first to break the \u201csound barrier\u201d. <\/p>\n However, Welch was at the time also at Muroc; he was there to test North American’s prototype XF-86, which was capable of high subsonic flight. And the XF-86’s flight testing called for investigating the \u201chigh Mach region\u201d \u2013 e.g., speeds close to the speed of sound.<\/p>\n . . .<\/b><\/p>\n So, what happens when you put an aircraft into a dive? It speeds up . . . right?<\/p>\n You guessed it: on 1 October 1947, Welch took the XF-86 up for a test flight – and investigated the \u201chigh Mach region\u201d. And while doing that, Welch dove. <\/p>\n Welch had previously told one of the regulars at Pancho Barnes\u2019 Rancho Oro Verde Fly Inn Dude Ranch (AKA the “Happy Bottom Riding Club” \u2013 yes, both the individual and the place portrayed in the book and movie The Right Stuff<\/u> did<\/i> exist) to look for the sound of an explosion. If they heard one, Welch told them to note the exact time and observe the reactions of those who heard it.<\/p>\n During Welch’s flight, the sound of what appeared to be a detonation was observed at the Fly Inn. Welch later compared notes with the individual he\u2019d previously told to keep an ear out for sounds of an explosion. <\/p>\n The individual had in fact heard the sound \u2013 and noted the time. The time was during Welch\u2019s dive.<\/p>\n Welch did the same again on 14 October 1947. This time, he did so approximately 20 minutes before Yeager\u2019s more famous flight. And the sonic boom from Welch\u2019s flight that day was also heard at the Fly Inn – and was reportedly far louder than that from Yeager\u2019s flight.<\/p>\n . . .<\/b><\/p>\n The Air Force never acknowledged Welch\u2019s October 1947 flights. Why? Dunno. But I can hazard a guess.<\/p>\n The Bell X-1 project was an Air Force favorite, and was expensive; its existence had to be justified. (Secretary of the Air Force Stuart Symington had told North American that they were not to exceed Mach 1 with the XF-86 until after Bell had done so with the X-1.) Welch was a civilian employee of North American Aviation, while Yeager was a serving USAF officer. The optics of having someone in uniform be the first to \u201cbreak the sound barrier\u201d vice a civilian contractor would obviously have been better for the USAF from a PR standpoint. <\/p>\n Plus, the head of Bell Aircraft, Lawrence Bell, reputedly knew President Truman. You really think the USAF is gonna chance royally p!ssing-off the POTUS within a few weeks of becoming an independent military service? (smile)<\/p>\n But reportedly there are not only confirmatory ground reports of a sonic boom associated with of each of Welch\u2019s October 1947 flights. There are supposedly instrumentation readings from the Muroc test range\u2019s radar theodolite from roughly a month later that lend credence to claims on Welch\u2019s behalf. (Welch himself never claimed to have been first to break the “sound barrier”.) Those radar theodolite readings verify that Welch did, in fact, officially exceed Mach 1 twice during testing of the XF-86 in November 1947. (Some accounts imply that radar theodolite readings exist for one or both of Welch’s October 1947 flights as well, but that may not be true.) Plus, Welch accurately described to one of North American’s aircraft designers the \u201cMach jump\u201d instrumentation anomaly noted in early supersonic flight \u2013 and he did so not long after his 1 October 1947 flight, nearly 2 weeks before Yeager supposedly “first” observed that same anomaly.<\/p>\n Decide for yourself. History gives Yeager the credit \u2013 but I don\u2019t think he was actually the first American to \u201cbreak the sound barrier\u201d during a controlled flight. I\u2019m guessing that was George Welch.<\/p>\n . . . <\/b><\/p>\n Some might argue that Welch doesn\u2019t deserve any credit for breaking the \u201csound barrier\u201d because he had to dive in the XF-86 to exceed Mach 1. On the surface, that argument may appear to have merit. But bear with me for a moment. Because one can also make a similar – though somewhat different – argument about Yeager\u2019s 14 October 1947 supersonic flight in the X-1.<\/p>\n Yeager\u2019s first supersonic Bell X-1 flight is well-chronicled, so there\u2019s no need to discuss it in detail. And it was indeed the first time the \u201csound barrier\u201d was broken in level flight \u2013 technically speaking<\/i>.<\/p>\n I say \u201ctechnically speaking\u201d because the Bell X-1 didn\u2019t make that entire flight under its own power<\/u>. Though capable of taking off from the ground, Yeager\u2019s X-1 did not do so on Yeager\u2019s 14 October 1947 flight. Rather, on that date it was carried to a high altitude by a B-29. It was then released to fly under its own power.<\/p>\n Would the Bell X-1 have been able to fly to altitude and then exceed Mach 1 in level flight that day? Who knows? (It certainly didn’t do so on 14 October 1947.) But if diving is a \u201cNO-GO\u201d regarding breaking the \u201csound barrier\u201d, well, pray tell: why is flying only half of a typical air mission (no powered takeoff, being carried aloft instead by another aircraft and then released at high altitude) acceptable? <\/p>\n In fact, only one Bell X-1 flight involved a takeoff under the aircraft\u2019s own power. Reputedly that flight indeed exceeded Mach 1, with Yeager at the controls \u2013 but it also occurred on 15 January 1949, nearly 15 months after<\/i> Yeager\u2019s first supersonic flight.<\/p>\n Personally, I think the credit should be split \u2013 with Welch recognized as the first American to break the \u201csound barrier\u201d, and Yeager as the first to do so in level flight. But nearly 50 years of having the truth about Welch’s October 194 flights apparently withheld \u2013 plus Welch\u2019s early death in a 1954 flight test accident \u2013 has led to Yeager getting sole credit.<\/p>\n . . .<\/b><\/p>\n OK, enough history. Enjoy the Weekend Open Thread, everyone \u2013 and the weekend.<\/p>\n References<\/u>:<\/p>\n The first part of Welch\u2019s career is is summarized here<\/i><\/a>; the second part is summarized here<\/i><\/a>. Both linked articles are excellent if somewhat biased reading (the author\u2019s obviously a huge fan of Welch). Other claims are discussed in an article linked in the following author\u2019s note.<\/p>\n Yeager\u2019s career and accomplishments need no discussion. He truly was one of the \u201clarger than life\u201d figures of the early days of jet flight.<\/p>\n A few other Wikipedia articles were also used as background, mostly for checking dates and\/or other specific items. <\/p>\n —–<\/p>\n Author\u2019s Note<\/u>: FWIW: while it\u2019s generally accepted that an American was the first to break the \u201csound barrier\u201d, there\u2019s a chance that the first person to break the \u201csound barrier\u201d wasn\u2019t even an American. Several Germans flying jet- or rocket-powered aircraft during the latter stages of the war could conceivably have done so; some claims to this effect have been made. But most of those cases have been investigated in detail and have been reasonably (but not categorically) found to be \u201cNO-GOs\u201d. Most of them are listed here<\/i><\/a>, along with Welch\u2019s flights and a few other debunked claims.<\/p>\n However, two cases are worth mention as possibilities.<\/p>\n