The Bell X-1 was an aircraft piloted at a supersonic level by the test pilot who served in what branch of the armed forces?
d41e57d78004aad5847c765addd3901d
Bell X-1 The Bell X-1 was a rocket engine-powered aircraft, designated originally as the XS-1, and was a joint National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics-U.S. Army Air Forces-U.S. Air Force supersonic research project built by Bell Aircraft. Conceived during 1944 and designed and built in 1945, it achieved a speed of nearly 1000 mph in 1948. A derivative of this same design, the Bell X-1A, having greater fuel capacity and hence longer rocket burning time, exceeded 1600 mph in 1954. The X-1, piloted by Chuck Yeager, was the first manned airplane to exceed the speed of sound in level flight and was the first of the X-planes, a series of American experimental rocket planes (and non-rocket planes) designated for testing of new technologies and often kept secret.
7d5da3fb2bf975ae8b67802519f0c6d2
Chuck Yeager Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager ( ; born February 13 , 1923) is a former United States Air Force general officer and record-setting test pilot. In 1947, he became the first pilot confirmed to have exceeded the speed of sound in level flight.
808de219b5b24ed13f714e90d5fb6c92
Russell Bannock Russell "Russ" Bannock {'1': ", '2': ", '3': ", '4': "} {'1': ", '2': ", '3': ", '4': "} (born November 1, 1919), is a Second World War ace and former chief test pilot for de Havilland Canada.
cf21041ad290e32c5b64fef58b820b2d
Armstrong Flight Research Center The NASA Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) is an aeronautical research center operated by NASA. Its primary campus is located inside Edwards Air Force Base and is considered NASA’s premier site for aeronautical research. AFRC operates some of the most advanced aircraft in the world and is known for many aviation firsts, including critical support for the first manned airplane to exceed the speed of sound in level flight with the Bell X-1, highest speed ever recorded by a manned, powered aircraft (North American X-15), the first pure digital fly-by-wire aircraft (F-8 DFBW), and many others. AFRC also operates a second site in Palmdale, Ca. known as Building 703, once the former Rockwell International/North American Aircraft production facility, at Air Force Plant 42. There, AFRC houses and operates several of NASA's Science Mission Directorate aircraft including SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy), a DC-8 Flying Laboratory, a Gulfstream C-20A UAVSAR and ER-2 High Altitude Platform. David McBride is currently the center's director.
271042fb6323adbd45a17f9b291a46f3
Bell 201 The Bell 201 (military designation XH-13F) was a modified Model 47G. The Bell 201/XH-13F was Bell's first helicopter to use a turbine engine. The Bell 201 was built to test components for the new XH-40, Bell Helicopter's prototype for its UH-1 Iroquois.
c80a46f203f012a0fc37c974e88ce9ba
Bell XP-83 The Bell XP-83 (later redesignated ZXF-83) was a United States prototype escort fighter designed by Bell Aircraft during World War II. It first flew in 1945. As an early jet fighter, its limitations included a lack of power and it was soon eclipsed by more advanced designs.
e8cfa3676baad8c71e664b4c4c9328e5
Kevin P. Chilton Kevin Patrick "Chilli" Chilton (born November 3, 1954) is an American mechanical engineer, and former United States Air Force four-star General and test pilot. His last assignment was as Commander, U.S. Strategic Command from October 3, 2007 to January 28, 2011. Prior to his appointment to general officer ranks, Chilton spent 11 years of his military career as a NASA astronaut. He retired from the Air Force on February 1, 2011, after having achieved the highest rank of any military astronaut. On January 30, 2012, General Chilton was named to the board of directors of Orbital Sciences Corporation.
b200cb38076c43f1cf52f57b6f7ac5f3
Robert Stanley (aviator) Robert M. Stanley (August 19, 1912 – July 16, 1977) was an American test pilot and engineer. He became the first American to fly a jet aircraft on October 2, 1942, as a civilian test pilot for Bell Aircraft. He flew the Bell XP-59A Airacomet, which was the United States’ first turbojet aircraft. The flight took place at Muroc Dry Lake, California. The Airacomet is on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
fd1aebacb460e6ea878f846ad891f172
4925th Test Group The 4925th Test Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last was assigned to the 4901st Support Wing (Atomic), stationed at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. It was inactivated on 31 August 1961. Known as "The Megaton Blasters", the 4925th was responsible for the development flight testing of all USAF nuclear weapon delivery systems including conducting live test drops from 1951 though 1958. The Group was discontinued on April 1, 1961, when Air Force Systems Command replaced Air Research and Development Command and components of its mission were distributed among other units.
9fbe442a3f083187cc994e82bc2ff1d2
Robin Rand Robin Rand (born 1956) is a United States Air Force general and commander of Air Force Global Strike Command. His command provides combat-ready forces to conduct strategic nuclear deterrence and global strike operations in support of combatant commanders. Ultimately, General Rand is responsible for the Nation's three intercontinental ballistic missile wings, the two B-52 wings, and the only B-2 wing with two B-1 wings and a weapon's storage complex to be added in FY16, approximately one-third of the nation's nuclear deterrent.
40620d74157e090deb97c00b4910b1c1
Urban L. Drew Urban Leonard Drew (March 21, 1924 – April 3, 2013), known as Ben Drew, was a fighter pilot in the United States Army Air Forces and a flying ace. He was the first and the only Allied pilot to shoot down two Luftwaffe jet-powered Me-262 aircraft in a single mission while flying a propeller-driven North American P-51 Mustang. He received the Air Force Cross for the mission in 1983.
0702ccaad1ac1ea1d99f6d392bf6ae76
LoFlyte LoFlyte is a supersonic / hypersonic unmanned demonstrator aircraft, designed in a joint effort between the US Air Force and NASA to test the characteristics of hypersonic vehicles at low speeds and low altitudes. It first flew in 1996.
c46b673a7999ef884ebf72032b8faaec
Peter Girard Peter Frank "Pete" Girard (May 5, 1918 – February 12, 2011) was a United States Army Air Corps pilot, Chief Engineering Test Pilot for Ryan Aeronautical, and the first man to hover in jet vertical flight. This feat was accomplished November 24, 1953 during tests that would culminate in the development of the Ryan X-13 Vertijet. He would later accomplish the first full-cycle vertical takeoff, horizontal flight, and vertical landing in a jet aircraft on April 11, 1957 at Edwards Air Force Base. Prior to working with Ryan, Girard had worked at Curtiss-Wright in St. Louis, Missouri and served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II as a Consolidated B-24 Liberator pilot.
25d8ff9629962d5ad0d962386611e573
North American X-15 The North American X-15 was a hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft operated by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as part of the X-plane series of experimental aircraft. The X-15 set speed and altitude records in the 1960s, reaching the edge of outer space and returning with valuable data used in aircraft and spacecraft design. The X-15's official world record for the highest speed ever recorded by a manned, powered aircraft, set in October 1967 when William J. Knight flew Mach 6.72 at 102100 ft , a speed of 4520 mph (2020.278 meters per second), has remained unchallenged as of .
25cb4fa2335f1ab1ed62965abf39fb6c
Douglas XB-19 The Douglas XB-19 was the largest bomber aircraft built for the United States Army Air Forces until 1946. It was originally given the designation XBLR-2 ("XBLR-" "denoting Experimental Bomber Long Range").
e9c62e31e902fb515466d95bf768447b
Joe W. Kelly General Joe William Kelly (January 19, 1910 – July 8, 1979) was a U.S. Air Force general and Commander, Military Air Transport Service (MATS). He was the first four-star commander of MATS, and was commander at the time the command was transitioning to jet aircraft. In 1961 he personally piloted the first jet aircraft assigned to MATS on its maiden voyage from the Boeing factory at Renton, Washington to MATS Eastern Transport Air Force at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey. During Kelly's time as commander, MATS was involved in Operation Deep Freeze, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Congo airlift. During his tenure, he compiled nearly 1,700 hours in the air from inspecting units, bringing his service total to nearly 9,700 flying hours.
2f21552a063f73095d6f31eadef22715
Frederic H. Smith, Jr. Frederic Harrison Smith, Jr. {'1': ", '2': ", '3': 'CBE', '4': "} (June 30, 1908 – May 28, 1980) was a United States Air Force four-star general who served as Commander in Chief, U.S. Air Forces in Europe (CINCUSAFE) from 1959 to 1961; and Vice Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force (VCSAF) from 1961 to 1962.
867e7792088521e7334e52a6ae4d5848
Nels Running Ronald Nels Running (born 1941) is a retired United States Air Force Major General who has more than 3,800 flying hours in F-105D, F-5 A/E, F-4 D/E and F-16A aircraft. This number of flying hours is significantly higher than the level of 3,000 flying hours that the Air Force requires to award its highest ranking of Command Pilot.
174829b794ce17afebbc608f20938768
Lloyd W. Newton Lloyd W. "Fig" Newton (born December 24, 1942) is a retired United States Air Force four-star general who served as Commander, Air Education and Training Command (COMAETC) from 1997 to 2000. He was also the first African-American pilot in the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds.
60d40b4c880f41e7b77d12e885a9e38f
John Cochrane (pilot) John Cochrane (26 August 1930 – 4 November 2006) was a British test pilot for the Anglo-French supersonic airliner, Concorde.
26b880a4fb472e1b0319de5aee65029c
William A. Campbell (Tuskegee Airman) Colonel William A. "Bill" Campbell (April 12, 1917 – April 24, 2012) was a highly decorated member of the famed group of World War II-era African American pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen. He had a long and storied military career, having served as a wingman in the first combat mission of the Tuskegee Airmen, risen to the rank of Group Commander of the 332nd Fighter Group shortly after World War II, and then serving in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
1029f2f35711fbc4f9ff07b744ea1f50
Gregory C. Johnson Gregory Carl "Ray J" Johnson (born July 30, 1954), (Capt, USNR, Ret.), is a former American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aerospace engineer, and NASA astronaut. He spent his military career in both, the United States Navy and the Navy Reserve. He was the Pilot on Space Shuttle mission STS-125, the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission.