Jacqueline Cochran Breaking the Sound Barrier,
Breaking the Barriers of Her Generation
The Development of Faster Planes: The Excitement, Expectations, and Fear
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"The movies and novels of the day promoted the danger with heroic test pilots going to their death, their planes pummeled by the dreaded sound barrier. Into the Unknown was popular film of the era and for the next ten years the American public had something new on which to focus its attention, and it was program that got results."
-NASA Article about the time of Test Pilots and sound barrier by W.G. Williams
Toward the Unknown Movie Poster, 1956 |
Credit to IMDb
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Evolution of Planes from 1903-1947
Orville and Wilbur Wright, first flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903 |
Credit to "Chuck Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier" by R. Conrad Stein p.12
"In the 44-year history of flight, which began in 1903 with the Wright brothers' first flight, no pilot had ever been able to travel faster than the speed of sound."
-"Chuck Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier" by R. Conrad Stein p.12
Propeller driven P-51 Mustang, 1944 | Credit to "Chuck Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier" by R. Conrad Stein p.10
"As an aircraft drew close to the speed of sound, the air in front of it could not move aside fast enough, so it became bunched up (compressed)."
-"Chuck Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier" by R. Conrad Stein p.14
"Strange things happened to aircraft as they neared the sound barrier. The planes bounced violently, (...) their controls stopped working."
-"Chuck Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier" by R. Conrad Stein p. 12-13
"The German made Messerschmitt Me 262, with a top speed of 550 miles (885 kilometers) per hour was the first jet aircraft."
-"Chuck Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier" by R. Conrad Stein p.9
German Messerschmitt Me 262, with a top speed of 550 miles (885 kilometers) 1944 | Credit to "Chuck Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier" by R. Conrad Stein p.9
"In 1947, the sound barrier loomed as the greatest challenge to aviators."
-"Chuck Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier" by R. Conrad Stein p. 12
The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star was one of the first United States Fighter Jet, 1945 | Credit to "Chuck Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier" by R. Conrad Stein p. 11
"There were serious predictions that the pilot's voice would get stuck in his throat when he flew faster than sound. (...) Some even feared that flying supersonically reversed time and that the pilot would turn into a young boy."
- "Supersonic Flight: Breaking the Sound Barrier and beyond: the Story of the Bell X-1 and Douglas D-558" by Richard Hallion
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Jacqueline Cochran wasn’t scared of speed and kept fearlessly testing faster and faster planes.
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