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The interaction of shock waves from two supersonic aircraft, photographed for the first time by NASA using the Schlieren method in 2019. A supersonic aircraft is an aircraft capable of supersonic flight, that is, flying faster than the speed of sound (Mach 1). Supersonic aircraft were developed in the second half of the twentieth century.
It achieved 30 mph (48 km/h) during its first flight, a record by the only plane of controlled take-off and landing in existence. The Bleriot XI then reached 47 mph (76 km/h) in 1909. Fabric-covered biplanes of the World War I era and shortly after could reach 200 mph (320 km/h).
XS-1 flight number 50 is the first one where the X-1 recorded supersonic flight, with a maximum speed of Mach 1.06 (361 m/s, 1,299 km/h, 807.2 mph). As a result of the X-1's initial supersonic flight, the National Aeronautics Association voted its 1947 Collier Trophy to be shared by the three main participants in the program.
Prior to the Second World War, conventional wisdom throughout the majority of the aviation industry was that manned flight at supersonic speeds was next to impossible, mainly due to the apparently insurmountable issue of compressibility. [2]
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Its inaugural flight — 60 years ago in September 1964 — kicked off a golden era for supersonic aircraft. The plane would later achieve a speed of just over 2,000 miles per hour, nearly 50% ...
The fastest speed the XB-1 had reached prior to the January 28 flight was Mach 0.95, just below the supersonic threshold of Mach 1, which it hit during its last test flight on January 10.
The chaos and secrecy of World War II meant that new speed breakthroughs were neither publicized nor ratified. In October 1941, an unofficial speed record of 1,004 km/h (624 mph) was secretly set by a Messerschmitt Me 163A "V4" rocket aircraft.