Rocket Take-Off

The Air Force's Bell X-1 rocket plane started its famous supersonic flights by being dropped from a high-flying B29. Last week, trying something new, it took off from the ground for the first time under its own (four rocket motor) power. Piloted by 25-year-old Captain Charles E. Yeager, the first man to fly faster than sound, it streaked across the desert at Muroc Dry Lake, Calif., and was airborne after only 2,300 ft., a shorter ground run than most standard fighters require.

In 1 min. 40 sec. after its motors started, the massive little aircraft reached 23,000 ft. While climbing, it rose at an average of 13,800 ft. a minute. The best jet-propelled fighters climb at about 10,000 ft. a minute.

Few airmen will grant an "airplane climbing record" to the Bell X-1, which is hardly an airplane. It might be more accurately described as a winged, piloted rocket. It carries four tons of fuel (alcohol and liquid oxygen) and burns it all in 2 1/2 minutes of full-power flight. With its heavy construction, straight wings and negligible payload, the X-1 is considered a sort of dinosaur among fast-flying aircraft. But it is still useful as a laboratory testing device.

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