European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 22, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Thou warm desert Sun really Felt wonderful. My ribs ached Chuck Yeager after breaking the sound Barrier for the first time oct. 14, 1947, in the Bell x-1. Chuck be Ayr. The1 first Man to break the sound Barrier has lived his Lite Jug an authentic hero n part one of this five part series adapted from h s autobiography Yeager he tells of breaking the found Barrier the Day after ,1 tiding Accident in which to suffered broken no editor. By Chuck Yeager and Leo Janos special to the stars and stripes breaking the sound Barrier was a ver Complex undertaking and i knew Lono Lomg about during Quick trips out to maroc cd wards apr in California to pick up air planes and ferry them Back Lowright fab in Dayton. Ohio. I saw the x-1 being shame cd beneath a by o bomber prior to taking Oil on a Fligl t. It was a Small ship painted Bright Orange and shaped a my Caliper machine gun Buziol somebody told Rne i was rocket propelled with pounds of thrust designed to Fly at twee the Speed of sound. That was beyond a understanding and lie i Goat Hal. When i returned to Wright in May 19-17, i attended a meeting of All the fighter test pilots requesting volunteers to Ity the x-1. Bob Hoover. Jack Ridley and i raised our hands along with about five others it was probably a goad thing that i was t very close to the flight test engineers who worked in the Section because they had warned some of the pilots to stay away from the x-1 project if they wanted to stay alive. A Lew Days later col Albert g Boyd. Head of the Light test division sent for me in never looked sterner. And when i saluted in front of his desk he kept me standing at attention for nearly half an hour while to talked. I left in a state of Shock he did t exactly offer me me. X-1, but he sure moved around the edges he asked me Why i had volunteered and i told him it seemed like an interesting program something e be to Fly. He said. Yeager this is the a a Polarie to Fly. The first Pilot who goer faster than sound Iii be in he Phimory books. 11 will be the most histone Nde since the Wright Brothers. And that s Why the x-1 he told Rne there were ail kinds of incredible planes on the drawing boards including an aircraft that could Fly six times faster than the Speed of sound and a supersonic bomber powered by an atomic reactor the a1" corps was developing a project that would put military pilots into space. But All these plans were stuck on a dime until the x-1 punched through the sound Barrier. I Haven l any doubt it will be done Boyd told me and that an air corps Pilot will be the one to do i asked the old Man if he thought there was a sound Barrier. Hell no he said or i would t be sending out one of Rny pilots. But i want you to know Iho hazards there arc1 some very Good aviation people who think that at the Speed of sound air loads May go to infinite. Do you know what that Means yes. i said. That would be he nodded. Nobody will know for sure what happens at Mach 1 until somebody gets there. This is an extremely risky Mission and we re not going to take it one step at a time but one Inch at a time. This is our first crack at being allowed to conduct research flying and we arc not going to blow then to asked me if i wanted to Fly in it and when i said yes. He said. Okay. . It s your Yeager flew the x-1 eight times Between aug 29 and ocl 14. 1947. During the test ihrjhlr., a number of problems were encountered and overcome the Annm severe problem occurred As the flights began approaching the of sound and unless n solution was found. Yenner s efforts to break the sound Barrier would be doomed on oct. 5,1 made my sixth Powe m it and experienced Shock wave buffeting for the first Timot i readied .86 Mach it Felt like i was driving on Bod shuck absorbers Over uneven paving Mone. The right suddenly got heavy and begin to drop and when i to 1 to Correct it my controls were sluggish. I increased my Speed to .63 Mach to see what would happen i Rny Aileron Wing Flap vibrating with Shock Waves Rind Only with Effort could 1 hold my Wing level. Rut on Rny very next flight we got knocked on our inn Nic was flying of .94 Mach Al 40.000 fee experiencing the usual buffeting when i pulled Back on the control wheel and Christ nothing happened1 the air plane continued flying with the same Altitude and in the same direction the control wheel Felt As if the cables had snapped. I did t know what in hell was happening. I turned off the eng me and stowed Down. I jettisoned Rny fuel and landed feeling certain that i had taken my last ride in the x-1. Plying at .94. I lost my pitch control my elevator ceased to function. At the Speed of sound the ship s nose was rescind to go either up or Down and without pitch control. I was in a helluva bind. I told Ridley i thought we had had it there a no Way i was going faster than .94 Mach without an elevator. He looked sick. So did Dick Frost the project manager and the Naca forerunner of Nasa team. We called colonel Boyd at Wright and he flew out immediately to Confer with us. Meanwhile. Naca Page 14 the stars and stripes Analysed the telemetry data from the flight and found hat at .94 Mach. A Shock wave was slammed right at the hinge Point of the elevator on the Tail negating my controls. Colonel Boyd just Shook his head. Well he said. It looks to me like we be reached the end of the everyone seemed to agree except or Jack Ridley. To sat at a Corner of the conference table scribbling Little notes and equations. He said Well maybe Chuck can Fly without using the elevator. Maybe he can get by using Only the horizontal the Stabilizer was the Wing like Structure on the Tail that stabilized pitch control. Doll s Engineer. Had purposely built into them an extra control authority because they had anticipated elevator ineffectiveness caused by Shock Waves. This extra authority was a trim switch in the cockpit that would of of a smart nor motor to Pivot the Ter up or Down creating a moving Tail that could act As an auxiliary elevator by lowering or raising the air plane s nose. We were leery about trying n while tying at High speeds inroad. We set the trim on the ground and left it alone. No x-1 flight a Ever routine. But when i was dropped to repeat the same flight profile that had lost my elevator . I admit to bring unusually Gyrn. I Fyk w a Alert and precisely As i knew How. If the damned ugh no in swallowed me up there was t much i could do about it. But i concentrated on that trim switch at the slightest indication that something was t right. I would break the record for backing off. Pushing the switch Forward opened a solenoid that allowed High pressure nitrogen Yas through the top motor to the Sabih or. Changing its Angle of attack and stabilizing its upward pitch. Iii pulled Back that would Start the Bottom motor turning it in the opposite direction. I could just beep it and supposedly make pitch changes. I let the air plane accelerate up to 85 Mach before testing the trim switch. I pulled Back on the switch moving the leading Edge of the Stabilizer Down one degree and her nose Rose. I a trimmed it Back to where it was and we levelled out. I climbed and accelerated up to .9 Mach and made Iho same change achieving the same result. I re trimmed it and let it go out to .94 Mach where i had lost Rny elevator effectiveness made the same trim change again raising the nose just As i had done at the lower Mach numbers. Ridley was right the Stabilizer gave me just enough pitch control to keep me Sale. I Felt we could probably make it through without the elevator. As cautiously As we were proceeding on these x-1 flights. I figured that my attempt to break the Barrier was a week or two away. So i looked Forward to a relaxed few Days off. But when 1 got Home i found my wife Glorus lying Down feeling sick. By sunday she was tuesday of
