First to Break the Sound Barrier?
#1

Interesting Article I found accidentaly discussing who was the first to break the sound barrier, dismissing the claims and summarizing the facts.

http://www.sonicbomb.com/modules.php?na ... le&sid=110

I'm sure that site is full of other great stuff, haven't much time to check though.
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#2

Well I just broke the Sound Barrier according to IL-2 which I know is not realistic because such effects of that speed are not moddeled...yet, but because they aren't, I broke the Sound barrier in my Me-262 and lived to tell the tale.

I began my dive at around 32000 ft and by the time I got to 745 mp/h at 10142 ft, I had broken the sound barrier and was travelling at Mach 1.014. Big Grin

And so I guess that is Me-262's limiting Mach number, For IL-2. The only damage the aircraft suffered was one of my elevators broke off and I immediately pulled up and was fine again so there ya go.

But of course if the real Mach 1 Characteristics were moddeled, I wouldn't have made it because My engines would have gave out and I would have rapidly decellerated.
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#3

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
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#4

Interesting. Btw I went even faster in a Ta-183.
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#5

To break the sound barrier "legally" you need to fly straight ahead and not in a nose-down dive.
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#6

KG64_Cnopicilin Wrote:To break the sound barrier "legally" you need to fly straight ahead and not in a nose-down dive.

Well thats why they call it unofficial.
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#7

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.
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#8

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.
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