Welch did break the sound barrier in a prototype F-86 in a shallow dive. Yeager was first to break the sound barrier in level flight.
Not to nitpick, but if that was the correct wording of the question, Chuck Yeager might not be the answer. During WWII fighter aircraft in a steep dive most certainly broke the sound barrier although it was not formally documented. Also, the question of whether the X-1 is considered an aircraft can be debated. It does not takeoff under its own power. That’s why many consider the fastest aircraft in the word the SR-71 and not the X-15.
The correct question would have been, “Name the American who first broke the sound barrier in level flight?”.
The up-and-coming generation’s ignorance of history can be both appalling and, at times, amusing. At a showing of “Saving Private Ryan”, right after it was released, I was sitting just in front of a ditzy teenage girl and her boyfriend, with whom she carried on a running conversation. It soon was obvious she didn’t know doodly-squat about history. About forty-five minutes into the movie, right after Tom Hanks and the remnants of his company had taken the bunker on the bluff and the Germans were surrendering, she asked, “Why are there Germans? I thought we were fighting the Japanese in World War Two.” In another scene, when the Jewish guy is waving his Star of David at a passing group of German prisoners and chanting, “Juden, Juden”, she asked her boy friend what he was saying. Her boyfriend informed her that the soldier was telling the Germans that he was a Jew. She asked, “Why would he want them to know his religion?”
Finally, after being shushed numerous times by those around her, this ninny ceased her inane chatter, to everyone’s great relief!
most people think that their was one atom bomb and the p 51 was the only us plane during ww2
THis made such a stir on britmodeller, that the thread was locked down!
No, the dumbing down of civilization is not just happening here.
UHHhh… HOLD THE PHONE!!!
Anything utilizing the Bernolli effect is an airplane.
The X-1 WAS an aircraft. A bona fide airplane indeed.
The X-15 is an aircraft too. With a 3,831 mph top recorded speed it WAS the fastest airplane. It was an experimental research plane for figuring out stuff.
Furthermore, an airplane can be powered by rubber bands or nuclear fission or flatulating gerbils or nothing at all such as a glider. The power source has nothing to do with whether it’s an airplane or not. Air dropped or launched on a vertical rail, if it’s got surfaces making use of the Bernolli effect it’s an airplane.
Currently the SR-71 is considered the the fastest because it was an operational type in squadron use up to about ten years ago and is kept ‘moth-balled’ in the case of future needs.
I think the point being made was about the offcial records. I dont recall the group/society name,but the folks who award the aerospace record "officially"for whatever record have as a requirement that the aircraft be manned/piloted from take off to landing and take off under it’s own power. There is a similar controversy about Yuri Gagrins first space flight. He reportedly parachuted out to a safe landing outside of his capsule. Undoubtably he ws the first human into space, but under those guidelines he was not in his craft when it landed back on Earth.
The X-1 and X-15 certainly were aircraft. But under those guidelines have to be disqualified for not taking off under their own power.
Yeager was the first american to reach the speed of sound in level flight under controlled conditions, this is correct.
I’ll throw this in the mix. What about the orbiter (space shuttle). Upon rentry and decent it does fly like aircraft. it orbits the earth at speeds in excess of 17,000 MPH. would you consider this a type of aircraft.
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) is the international body that verifies or sanctions aviation records of all types. They have dozens of categories according to size, powerplant, type of course being flown, number of engines and several other factors. The SR-71 is the fastest, manned, air breathing, jet powered aircraft. It has set quite a number of records for speed and altitude over relatively short, closed courses as well as distance runs such as New York to London, London to LA, and LA to Washington, DC. The X-15 holds the speed and altitude records for rocket powered, manned aircraft, launched from another aircraft. I think that Capt Chuck Yeager was given credit for the first controlled, supersonic flight. It was a rocket powered plane launched from another plane. It was accelerating in a steep climb when it went through Mach 1 and then, once the rocket engines shut off, it coasted upwards for quite a ways before gliding back down to a landing. The F-100 Super Sabre was the first jet powered, USAF aircraft to be capable of supersonic speed in level flight. The Space Shuttle is both a ballistic space craft and an airplane/glider. It has set records in speed, altitude and distance for it’s own category.
Darwin, O.F. [alien]
I work evening shift in a cell phone call center, and was on the phone with a customer who was watching “Smarter Than a Fifth Grader.” She was excited to see if the gal would win a million bucks, and told me what the question was. I instantly said, “Chuck Yeager.” She was amazed, and repeated my remark to her husband. I heard him say, “Well, who the hell DOESN’T know that?” I hadn’t heard the gal’s answer until reading it here, but you have to give her credit for a good try. Howard Hughes was an aviation pioneer and did a lot of pretty remarkable stuff. I’d give her points for the breadth of her knowledge, if not the depth.
In about 1980 I was doing some student teaching at a public high school in Albuquerque, NM, and was tasked with leading the class in a discussion of 20th century American conflicts. This was not special ed, but a mainstream, 11th grade class. The kids kicked around some ideas, and the consensus was that the US got involved in the Vietnam war in about 1960, after the Vietnamese attacked Pearl Harbor, which is somewhere near New York, in retaliation for our having nuked Hiroshima, one of their major cities. No one knew why we’d done that, but it had something to do with a deal Nixon had made for cheap oil.
I walked out of that classroom and never went back into another one. That was only 5 years after the fall of Saigon, and one of the kids in that class was Vietnamese!
The answer is, Amelia Earhart flying a 747 designed by Igor Sikorsky over Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1927 to fight Hitler at Pearl Harbor. It must be true, I saw it on the history channel. But sometimes my DVR gets things a little mixed up.
Thanks yardbird, I often wondered about that but never looked into it.
Yes, the “dumbing down” is a worldwide problem. But I do think from my own observations, it is more prolific here in the US. Most kids (my wife is a high school teacher) think “Why do I need to know this stuff, and what does it matter to me? Does it affect me and my playstation?” It’s a me-me-me generation. Been that way for a few years now. How you can live your life and be ignorant - yes, ignorant is th politcally incorrect term - of events past and present disgusts and alarms me. My wife tries so hard, but she’s fighting an uphill battle. It starts early, and it starts at home. Sometimes we say “ah, these people will be running the country some day” The sad truth is, they will be. Want to be really scared? Watch 'Idiocracy", a movie that came out 1-2 years ago, starring Luke Wilson. First you make think “this is a dumb movie” then you will see how we are on that path right now. Gives me a shiver to think about it.
Almost every young male 5th grader from my generation - and many females - would have known the answer to that question, and probably could tell you the drop plane, too. I’m 42 and I guess that’s ancient history. My wife, who has NO aviation interest whatsoever, could answer that. I’m going to have her ask that question of her class, and also the one about ficitional/historical figures, and who-fought-who in WWII. I’ll post results here.
Yes, the “dumbing down” is a worldwide problem. But I do think from my own observations, it is more prolific here in the US.
I can pinpoint when it started… Sept. 2, 1945. That is the day WWII ended and we officially left both it and the Depression behind.
As they say (well, okay, as I say): “Too much peace and prosperity is a bad thing. When those grow too lushly, humans bog down and cease to expand or appreciate.”
We soon become spoiled and raise spoiled children - who in turn breed and raise spoiled children. The things we’ve learned that got us where we are become passe - then we fail to remember that everyone simply can’t keep getting what they want. That notion falls apart in a catastrophic crash, or simply stagnates under it’s own lumbering weight.
WARNING: BRUTAL TRUTH AHEAD
What is needed is another bubonic plague… THAT was the greatest driver of human knowledge ever known. History teaches us these things… but wait, no one cares about that anymore.
Fifth graders, indeed. Me, I’m betting on stagnation in our time, followed by catastrophy.
David, I think I’ll pass on the plague. The stagnation is already here. The catastrophy isn’t far behind. If you look at most of the school systems in this country the catastrophy has already started. Good Luck, ART
Perhaps the wording was different. After all, it was 10 years ago. But my wife still thinks I’m a Genius… [:-^]
You actually got me curious and I searched for the Jeapordy question.
“On October 14, 1997 he re-created a feat he had performed exactly fifty years earlier”
It was not aired on the anniverasy and I now have no idea how I called that shot. I guess I am a Genius…[angel]
I post “today in history” outside my cubie each day and I am suprised and at the same time not suprised at what people know. I’m also almost twice the age of my co workers.
Let’s not forget about the large and growing group of people who actually believe that WW2 never happened and the moon landings were faked.
I’d like to tell a little story here if I may.
When I was younger I was one of those kids who had no interest in history. I did ask the “how will this help me…” question a lot. From my point of view at the time what was going on in the world then was what was important. How would knowing who fought at Thermopoli keep the school bully from beating me up today? How would knowing the key dates from WW2 help me get an A in math so my parents will let me join the Boy Scouts? And on and on. But then somewhere around 7th grade I saw something that changed my thought process and indeed changed me.
I have always been a lover of animation. From Tom and Jerry to Disney to the latest Anime I watch it all. So naturally I always watched all the Charley Brown specials that were on tv now and then during the year. But this one was different. It wasn’t about Christmass or the Great Pumpkin, it was about history. And I watched it. And I was interested. And I don’t think I blinked during the whole part about WW2. And I remember thinking that something important was going to happen at the end of the show so I didn’t even look away from the TV during the last commercial break. The show comes back with Linus and CB back in the present and CB asks something to the tune of what does all this mean and Linus delivered the line that brought it home to me. "What have we learned Charly Brown?" And I got it! It was like a hand had reached out of the TV and slapped me, pointed at my face and shouted that’s why you should study about history. Indeed, why we MUST study history.
I have been interested in history, passionate in some cases, ever since. [:D] That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. No matter how strange it sounds.
Andrew
Some wise old sage, I forget which one, once said, “If we do not study history, we are doomed to repeat it!” I am sure that most of you have heard this saying or some derivative of it, but it is the bottom line of why we must learn history in school and after we get past the formal learning. There are a lot of things in history that we certainly do not want to repeat and few that we do. We need to learn the difference.
Darwin, O.F. [alien]
I don’t buy it. There’s plenty of very smart people and quite a lot of really smart children. Dummies are more memorable and make more news by virtue of what they lack. Smart folks usually don’t jump up and down and make a fuss. Dumb kids are focused upon because of being the lowest common denominator that idiot proof systems must be designed to accomodate. Smart kids get through without snags and hangups and don’t cause needs for reports of how smart they are and explainations describing the ease they enjoyed doing their thing.
Please remember, television programs are a profit driven enterprise. If producers think that more folks will watch if they can beat a drum about how ‘dumb’ contestants are, they will purposely design the show that way. It is highly likely that is the case in sensational episodes.
I work at museum on the week-ends. I am consistantly delighted with the young kids that know stuff such as the speed of sound, the Mustang getting a British engine, the role of the A-10 Thunderbolt… all kinds of things that are never volunteered. I just ask them. Then they just go on and on… About half are clueless (parents and children alike) but the other half are walking encyclopedias. Young kids… I’m talking between 7 and 12 years old…
Admittedly, being at museum is a giant filter. Dumb parents do not visit museums with their children.