X-1 (aircraft)

On October 14, 1947, a U.S. rocket-propelled research aircraft, piloted by Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager, became the first manned vehicle to exceed the speed of sound. It now hangs from the ceiling of the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, DC.

Dropped from a modified B-29 bomber that carried the X-1 to altitude, the X-1 design exploited the basic shape of something known to be stable at high speed: the small aircraft was essentially a .50 caliber bullet with wings and a tail. It had enough liquid oxygen and ethanol for a short powered flight, and then glided to a landing.