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Basically a well written article and nice to read, unfortunately at one or another point facts are mixed with half-truths, e.g.
Quote:Propeller aircraft can never reach the sound barrier, since the tips of propeller blades hit the sound barrier before the rest of the plane does. The propeller blades go into shock stall, and the plane can no longer accelerate.
While this is true for subsonic prop designs for sure, the author ignores the fact that other prop designs exist which, even though they eventually were abandoned, theoretically were capable of driving their A/C with supersonic speed (e.g. XF-84H, XF-88B, centripetal supersonic propellers on 1985's Colani Racer study).
Best regards - Mike
Interesting. Btw I went even faster in a Ta-183.
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To break the sound barrier "legally" you need to fly straight ahead and not in a nose-down dive.
Chuck Yeager was indeed the first person to break the sound barrier in an honest level flight.Keep in mind he was also climbing in the rocket powered X-1 and well the higher you go the slower you have to be to break the sound barrier.He broke the sound barrier at like 71,000(max. ceiling for the XS-1) and I believe the sound barrier up there is somewhere in the 200 KIAS area.So yeah breaking the sound barrier at SEA LEVEL is totally different than at 71,000ft just thought I'd let you guys understand that.He was also the first person to break the sound barrier with telemetry,and all the flight data to prove it,let alone the HUGE publicity after the flight.People really didn't know or even care about the Me-163 in the 40s,they had no idea how high,fast,or even the range of it was until after the war.I really don't doubt that the 262 could go supersonic in a DIVE it's how long it could go like that,not very long I know.The Bell XS-1 was the first aircraft DESIGNED for supersonic flight,not to be something like the first true jet fighter(Me-262)or some ridiculous rocket powered bomber interceptor with two cannons mounted on it.
Yes but one of the prototypes supposedly broke the sound barrier but like it sais, even Alexander Lippisch and Willy Messerschmitt both knew that it wasn't desgined for such high speeds and therefore was basicly impossible for the aircraft to withstand it. But perhaps if Lippisch had more funding and support(Or even any funding at that) and worked with Von Braun then they probably couldve desgined a aircraft to break the sound barrier. Too bad that Lippisch's talents were unrealised.