<P> On 14 October 1947 , just under a month after the United States Air Force had been created as a separate service , the tests culminated in the first manned supersonic flight , piloted by Air Force Captain Charles `` Chuck '' Yeager in aircraft # 46 - 062 , which he had christened Glamorous Glennis . The rocket - powered aircraft was launched from the bomb bay of a specially modified B - 29 and glided to a landing on a runway . XS - 1 flight number 50 is the first one where the X-1 recorded supersonic flight , at Mach 1.06 ( 361 m / s , 1,299 km / h , 807.2 mph ) peak speed ; however , Yeager and many other personnel believe Flight # 49 ( also with Yeager piloting ) , which reached a top recorded speed of Mach 0.997 ( 339 m / s , 1,221 km / h ) , may have , in fact , exceeded Mach 1 . ( The measurements were not accurate to three significant figures and no sonic boom was recorded for that flight . ) </P>
<P> On 14 October 1947 , just under a month after the United States Air Force had been created as a separate service , the tests culminated in the first manned supersonic flight , piloted by Air Force Captain Charles `` Chuck '' Yeager in aircraft # 46 - 062 , which he had christened Glamorous Glennis . The rocket - powered aircraft was launched from the bomb bay of a specially modified B - 29 and glided to a landing on a runway . XS - 1 flight number 50 is the first one where the X-1 recorded supersonic flight , at Mach 1.06 ( 361 m / s , 1,299 km / h , 807.2 mph ) peak speed ; however , Yeager and many other personnel believe Flight # 49 ( also with Yeager piloting ) , which reached a top recorded speed of Mach 0.997 ( 339 m / s , 1,221 km / h ) , may have , in fact , exceeded Mach 1 . ( The measurements were not accurate to three significant figures and no sonic boom was recorded for that flight . ) </P>
when did we break the speed of sound
when did we break the speed of sound
14 October 1947
14 October 1947