Word: sled
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Safe in a concrete bunker, tense men at a periscope window kept their eyes on Sonic Wind No. 2, a squat, steel sled with the menacing look of a robot spider. Beneath its red-and-white-striped cab, a string-straight rail track ran across the shimmering heat of Holloman Air Force Base. A patch of blue water dammed up between the rails stretched toward the end of the line, 3,500 ft. away...
Overhead an F-94C jet fighter slanted down to make a run with the sled...
...From the sled's tail end, nine rockets exploded; the Sonic Wind whipped down the track, shot forward by 70,200 lbs. of thrust. Trailing a 35-ft. tail of fire, it roared out from under the speeding observer plane. After 1.8 seconds, the rockets sputtered out. Metal scoops below the sled plowed into the dammed-up water. Spray exploded into a brief fountain as the Sonic Wind slammed to a stop...
...dead silence, a fire crew inched toward the still monster to douse its blackened rocket chambers with a blanket of foam. The sled's tail flared into a puff of flame, like a last gesture of defiance, and the test run was over. A quick check of the chronographs showed that Sonic Wind No. 2 had hit 995 m.p.h...
...that speed, the sled's metal wind screen will be blown clear, and air blast will wallop Stapp with the same destructive force that would hit a pilot bailing out at 40,000 ft. and 2,000 m.p.h...