In the 1940s, NACA invested heavily in new designs for propellers through a high-speed propeller research program. NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), believed that it was possible for propeller-driven aircraft to break the sound barrier eventually. Today, some planes can go supersonic without afterburner. This combination allows aircraft to meet the thrust requirement while also enabling longer flight times, as higher fuel burn is able to be restricted to only times when extra thrust is needed-such as during supersonic flight. In the end, aircraft designed for supersonic flight were equipped with afterburner-fitted turbofan engines. Turbojets were better suited to the mission, given their better fuel efficiency, but did not produce the necessary thrust. In the early days, supersonic flight was restricted to aircraft with rocket-powered engines, but the engines had a high fuel burn rate that resulted in short flight times. Additionally, the engine must be able to produce enough thrust to counter significant drag. The airframe must be able to withstand the intense heat that is generated from friction as air rapidly flows across its surface. Wingspan must be limited but wide enough to remain aerodynamically efficient at slower speeds. To be able to successfully break through the sound barrier, an aircraft’s engine and airframe must be designed to overcome the adverse effects of supersonic flight. If an aircraft can break through this aerodynamic barrier, better known as the sound barrier, then a sonic boom is produced. Together, they form a barrier dramatically reducing aircraft performance and making it difficult, and often impossible, for any additional speed to be gained. These effects include shockwaves, turbulence, friction-generated heat, and a significant increase in drag. In order to exceed this speed, an aircraft must be able to overcome the large array of adverse aerodynamic effects created by transonic air movement. The lower the temperature, the lower the speed of sound, and vice versa. On a dry day, with temperatures at 68☏, this speed is 761 mph. In aviation, the speed of sound refers to how fast sound waves travel through air during current atmospheric conditions. Yet, to date, propeller-driven aircraft have been left puttering slowly, subsonically behind. In the years that followed, major advancements were made in supersonic aircraft technology. From there, it rocketed to 40,000 feet and broke the sound barrier at 662 mph. Designed with a streamlined fuselage and thin, unswept wings, the X-1 was dropped from the bomb bay of a Boeing B-29 Superfortress at 25,000 feet. The impressive feat was accomplished in the experimental Bell X-1 rocket plane, nicknamed “Glamorous Glennis” after Yeager’s wife. When Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in 1947, it was one of the coolest moments in aviation history, even if it did take a while to be revealed to the public at large.
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