MAKING HISTORY
On 14 October 1947, American test pilot Charles “Chuck” E. Yeager became the fastest man alive when he broke the sound barrier for the first time. Yeager made history in a Bell X-1 rocket plane, which he nicknamed ‘Glamorous Glennis’ after his first wife. At an altitude of eight miles, the test pilot relit a third chamber of the plane’s engine, causing it to accelerate to Mach 0.98. Yeager climbed another 304 metres, increasing speed and becoming the first man to officially travel faster than sound.
The public was made aware of the feat in 1948 and Yeager was awarded the Collier trophy – a prestigious aviation award – with the awarding body calling his 14 October flight the most important in aviation history since the Wright brothers’ in 1903.