Word: mach
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...this height, the airplane (presumably rocket-propelled) must fly at something like Mach 10 (more than 7,000 m.p.h.) to get enough lift out of the thin air. When the pilot bails out, however, the thinness of the air comes to his rescue: he does not feel so much shock as he would when leaving a present-day airplane at comparatively low altitude...
...Mach 2. Man has now flown twice as fast as sound. The feat was performed by Scott Crossfield, 32, pilot for the NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics), which has taken over the famed Douglas Skyrocket, first flown by Test Pilot Bill Bridgeman in 1947. Last week the Skyrocket, with Crossfield at the controls, was dropped from a B-29 at 32,000 ft. above Muroc Dry Lake. After following a careful flight plan (climbing so as to reach high altitude with a minimum expenditure of fuel), Crossfield nosed over and flew practically level under full power. The machmeter, which...
...temperature over the Channel was only 72° F., while Barns flew over the hot desert near Salton Sea, Calif, in air at 104° F. Since the speed of sound is lower in cooler air, Duke approached more closely the resistance point that waits just below Mach...
...previous official record, also held by a Sabre jet, was 699.9 m.p.h. To turn the trick, Lieut. Colonel William Barnes, 32, flew his Sabre jet at the most favorable spot: the hot desert that surrounds the Salton Sea in Southern California. A Sabre jet is built to fly at mach .91, i.e., 91% of the speed of sound. Above this speed, it runs into a sharp increase of air resistance that is called "compressibility drag rise." Since sound moves faster at high temperature, the best place to try for speed is a hot desert...
...buzzed the field at 650 m.p.h. not more than 15 feet off the ground. A tiny two-seater, the Minijet, scooted up & down at 200 m.p.h. Loafing about the field were the Trident, an experimental, needle-nosed plane that the French hope will reach speeds up to Mach 1.6 (1,156 m.p.h. at sea level), and the triple-purpose Vautour (ground-support fighter, all-weather interceptor, light bomber), with expected speeds of 650-plus m.p.h...