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?
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.
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.