Word: xia
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...article was the most objective yet seen. Congratulations. Out of fairness, a correction must be made in reference to the Rocket Powered Bell XIA. Although it was indeed the Bell XIA which flew both to 1,650 m.p.h. and 90,000 ft., it was not I, but Major Charles ("Chuck") Yeager, my friend of long standing, who attained this speed (and incidentally, nearly gave his life), while accomplishing always hazardous high-speed research during 1953. Following his flights, and with the assistance of Colonel Jack Ridley, the NACA, and many others, it then became my privilege to be the first...
...Harold E. Talbott at an Air Force Association convention in Omaha last week. For security reasons, he refused to identify the new record-breaking plane, the pilot or the exact altitude reached. Best guesstimates: altitude, 90,000 ft. (17 miles) above sea level, probably reached by Bell's XiA rocket aircraft. An added feather in the Air Force's cap: a B-47 jet bomber, refueled in flight, has set a new jet endurance record, staying aloft for 35 hours, traveling 17,000 miles nonstop...
...twirled their first pusher propeller, the Air Force's Major Charles E. ("Chuck") Yeager, 30, attained the highest known speed ever to be reached by pilot and plane. His rocket-powered aircraft (released from a B-29 bomber at 30,000 ft. for the run): the experimental Bell XIA, a new relative of the XI, with which Chuck Yeager first cracked the sound barrier in level flight (TIME, April 18, 1949). His speed: more than 1,600 m.p.h., 2½ times the speed of sound...