USPS First Supersonic Flight Sheet of Twenty 32 Cent Stamps Scott 3173

On October 14, 1997 at Edwards Air force Base in California, the USPS celebrated the 50th anniversary of the First Supersonic flight. In the early 1940's aviation scientists had to solve the problem of breaking the sound barrier - the sharp increase in aerodynamic drag that aircraft experience as they approach the speed of sound. For this purpose, the Bell Aircraft Company and the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics built the rocket-powered X-1. On October 14, 1947, the X-1, piloted by Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager, was air-launched from under the bomb bay of a B-29 bomber. Using the X-1's 6,000 pounds of thrust, Yeager broke the sound barrier, attaining a speed of 700 miles per hour.