NASA Facts

National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

Dryden Flight Research Center

P.O. Box 273
Edwards, California 93523
Voice 661-276-3449
FAX 661-276-3566
[email protected] FS-2003-07-0085 DFRC

First Generation X-1

Photo E-9. X-1/B-29.

The first generation X-1 aircraft changed aviation history in numerous ways, and not simply because they were
the first aircraft to fly faster than the speed of sound. Rather, they established the concept of the research air-
craft, built solely for experimental purposes, and unhampered by any military or commercial requirements.
Although subsequent X-planes were built for a wide range of purposes - technology or concept demonstrators,
unmanned test missiles, and even as prototypes in all but name - the X-1s were built to go faster than an aircraft
had ever flown before.

The X-1 resulted from technological challenges facing aircraft designers in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
Aircraft had begun to experience both subsonic and supersonic airflow over their wings. This created a range of
undesirable characteristics - compressibility, increased drag, trim changes, severe turbulence, and loss of control
effectiveness. Wind tunnels were affected by the same aerodynamic problems, and their data proved to be
unreliable in this regime. As a result, a few individuals - John Stack of the NACA, Ezra Kotchner of the Army
Air Forces, and Walter Diehl of the Navy - realized a specialized research aircraft offered the only feasible
means of getting supersonic aeronautical data.

 powered flight on Dec. 9, reaching a speed of Mach

0.79. By June 1947, Bell had proven the airworthiness
of both X-1s up to speeds of Mach 0.8. The contract
freed the company from responsibility above this
speed.

On June 30, 1947, Army Air Forces and NACA

representatives agreed on a two-phase flight program.
The Army Air Forces would use the X-1-1, with its
thinner wing, to conduct an accelerated program to
reach Mach 1.1 as quickly as possible. The NACA
would provide support, such as technical advice and
data analysis. The NACA would then undertake a
slower-paced, more detailed series of research flights
at transonic (near the speed of sound) speeds, using
Photo E-4837. X-1 on display.
the X-1-2 and its thicker wing.
The Army Air Forces selected Bell Aircraft to build
three X-1 aircraft. The fuselage was the same shape as Capt. Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager was selected as the
a 0.50 caliber machine gun bullet, which was known pilot for flights to Mach 1. He made his first glide
to be stable at supersonic speeds. The X-1 wings were flights on Aug. 6, 7, and 8, 1947. Yeager undertook
straight, rather than swept back, and relatively thin for his first powered flight in the X-1-1 on Aug. 29,
the time. The X-1-1 (serial number 46-062) had a reaching Mach 0.85. Over the next six weeks, Yeager
wing with an 8 percent thickness/chord ratio. The X-1- came closer to Mach 1, reaching Mach 0.997 on Oct.
2 (serial number 46-063) had a 10 percent ratio wing. 10. For the NACA engineers, used to a more cautious
The X-1 was powered by an XLR-11 rocket engine, step-by-step approach, Yeager and the Air Force
which had four chambers and burned liquid oxygen seemed to be acting in haste. Still, on Oct. 14, Yeager
(LOX) and a mixture of alcohol and water. In 1945, reached a speed of Mach 1.06 at 43,000 feet, becom-
rockets were viewed with suspicion by some engi- ing the first man to fly supersonic. Air Force officials
neers. Both the NACA and Navy preferred a jet- designated the flight and all data as Top Secret two
powered research aircraft, rather than one using a hours later. Not until December 1947 would word leak
rocket, as the Army Air Forces had selected. of the achievement, and it was not until March 1948
that the U.S. Air Force officially confirmed the
The X-1-1 was delivered by Bell in December 1945. achievement
At the same time, the Army Air Forces asked that
NACA personnel oversee the instrumentation and data The NACA now began flying the X-1-2 on research
analysis of the X-1 flights. As a result, an NACA team
was incorporated into the program. The first glide
flight of the X-1 occurred on Jan. 19, 1946, at
Pinecastle Field, Fla., by Bell test pilot Jack Woolams.
The X-1-1 was air launched from a B-29. Woolams
made a total of 10 glide flights to test the X-1’s low-
speed handing before it was returned to Bell in March
1946 for installation of the rocket engine. The aircraft
was delivered to Muroc in October 1946.

The first group of NACA engineers arrived at Muroc

Field (now Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.), in Sep-
tember 1946 in preparation for the initial flights of the
X-1-2. Bell test pilot Chalmers "Slick" Goodlin made
the first glide flight in the X-1-2 on Oct. 11, 1946. Photo E60-6204A. X-1 in flight with copy of "mach jump"
After a total of four glide flights, he made the first paper tape data record of the first supersonic flight.

missions. On Oct. 21, 1947, NACA pilot Herbert H.

Hoover made a glide flight. Hoover followed this
mission on Dec. 16 with a powered flight to Mach
0.84. In January 1948, a second NACA research pilot,
Howard C. Lilly, joined the program. The initial
NACA flights in the aircraft sought data on turns and
pull ups, side slips, and elevator effectiveness at
subsonic speeds. It was not until March 4, 1948, that
Hoover reached Mach 1.029. Hoover became the
second man to reach Mach 1, on the first NACA and
the first civilian supersonic flight. Lilly flew at Mach
1.1 on March 31.

Robert A. Champine replaced Hoover and Lilly on the

X-1 program in November 1948, undertaking studies
of wing pressure distribution, stability and control, and Photo E49-001. X-1-2 on lakebed.
stabilizer effectiveness. John H. Griffith continued
these research efforts when he replaced Champine on
the X-1 program. Griffith flew the X-1-2 through a full Mach number higher than the X-1-1 or X-1-2
October 1950, when he left the NACA for a job as a could reach. Funding cuts and turbopump develop-
company test pilot. A. Scott Crossfield joined the ment problems, however, delayed the aircraft a full
research efforts in April 1951, adding Joe Walker in three years. The Air Force had also contracted with
August. Bell Aircraft to develop the second generation X-1A,
X-1B, and X-1D. Interest in the X-1-3 faded, and the
The research usefulness of the first generation X-1 Air Force cancelled it. The NACA, wanting its own
aircraft was nearing an end. The second generation X- Mach 2 aircraft to experiment with, picked up the Air
1 aircraft, then under development, would be able to Force's canceled X-1-3.
reach twice the speed of sound. After Yeager’s Mach
1 flight, the X-1-1 had been used by the Air Force to The X-1-3 was delivered to Edwards in April 1951.
acquire data on stability and control, wing and tail Bell test pilot Joseph Cannon successfully made a
loading, high-altitude flight, and pilot familiarization. glide flight in the aircraft on July 20. On Nov. 9, 1951,
After a final flight by Yeager on May 12, 1950, the X- a captive flight was made by the X-1-3 aboard the B-
1-1 was retired and given to the Smithsonian Institu- 50 launch aircraft. This was to be a rehearsal for the
tion. The X-1-2 continued flying, but technical prob- first powered flight, as well as a test of the jettisoning
lems brought its work to a close. The X-1-1 and X-1-2 system. Engineers cancelled the jettisoning tests,
both used a fuel system pressurized with nitrogen. The however, when nitrogen pressure fell. The B-50 with
X-1-2’s nitrogen tanks were nearing the end of their the fully fueled X-1-3 still attached landed back at
fatigue life, risking a possible explosion. Conse- Edwards safely, and preparations began to jettison the
quently, NACA officials grounded the X-1-2, which LOX. As Cannon pressurized the LOX tank, however,
later returned in a much modified state as the X-1E. a dull thud was heard, followed by a hiss and a small
cloud of white vapor escaped from the X-1-3’s center
The X-1-3 (serial number 46-064) represented the section. Then, a violent explosion occurred, with
final example of first generation X-1 series. The X-1-3 yellow flames and black smoke engulfing both the X-
was externally identical to the other two aircraft. The 1-3 and the B-50. Cannon escaped from the X-1-3, but
fuel system in the X-1-3 did not rely on nitrogen spent nearly a year in the hospital recovering from
pressure, however, but rather on a turbopump. This severe burns on his legs, arms and body. The fire and
eliminated the need for the heavy nitrogen tanks, and subsequent explosions destroyed both the X-1-3 and
resulted in a calculated maximum speed of Mach 2.4, B-50.