Closer to Sound

The air speed record, inching closer to the critical speed of sound, moved up a double notch. At Muroc Dry Lake, Calif., the Navy's Douglas Skystreak (0-558), piloted by Commander Turner F. Caldwell, zipped four times over a three-kilometer course at the average speed of 640.7 m.p.h. This was 16.9 m.p.h. faster than the record set (on June 19) by Lockheed's P-80R. Then last week, five days later, Marine Major Marion Carl (credited with 18 Japanese planes) took the Skystreak up again. Flying at times only 25 feet above the desert, he averaged 650.6 m.p.h.

According to the up-to-date method of measuring airplane speeds (in "mach numbers"), the second flight of the Skystreak was no better than the first. During both flights it reached "mach .828." This means that both times it moved at 82.8% of the speed that sound would travel through the same air. While Commander Caldwell was flying the Skystreak, the temperature of the air was only 75DEG F. But when Major Carl took the controls, it was 94DEG F. Sound travels faster in hot air, so the speed of sound at the course moved up too, keeping Pilot Carl's speed in "mach numbers" the same as Pilot Caldwell's.

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