Editing Sound barrier (section)

===The first aircraft to officially break the sound barrier ===
The British [[Air Ministry]] signed an agreement with the [[United States]] to exchange all its high-speed research data and designs, including that for the M.52,<ref>Wood, Derek (1975). ''Project Cancelled''. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company Inc. p. 36. {{ISBN|0-672-52166-0}}.</ref> with equivalent US research but the U.S. reneged on the agreement, and nothing was forthcoming in return.<ref>Bancroft, Dennis. [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2412barrier.html "Faster Than Sound"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829204327/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2412barrier.html |date=2017-08-29 }}. ''NOVA'' Transcripts, PBS, air date: 14 October 1997. Retrieved: 26 April 2009.</ref>

[[File:Chuck Yeager.jpg|thumb|left|[[Chuck Yeager]] in front of the [[Bell X-1]], the first aircraft to break the sound barrier in level flight]]
The [[Bell X-1]], the first US crewed aircraft built to break the sound barrier, was visually similar to the [[Miles M.52]] but with a high-mounted horizontal tail to keep it clear of the wing wake. Compared to the all-moving tail on the M.52 the X-1 used a conventional tail with elevators but with a movable stabilizer to maintain control passing through the sound barrier. It was in the X-1 that [[Chuck Yeager]] became the first person to do so in level flight on 14 October 1947, flying at an altitude of 45,000&nbsp;ft (13.7&nbsp;km). [[George Welch (pilot)|George Welch]] made a plausible but officially unverified claim to have broken the sound barrier on 1 October 1947, while flying an  [[North American F-86 Sabre#Development|XP-86]] North American F-86 Sabre. He also claimed to have repeated his supersonic flight on 14 October 1947, 30 minutes before Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1. Although evidence from witnesses and instruments strongly imply that Welch achieved supersonic speed, the flights were not properly monitored and are not officially recognized. The XP-86 officially achieved supersonic speed on 26 April 1948.<ref>Wagner, Ray (1963). ''The North American Sabre''. London: Macdonald. p. 17.</ref>

On 14 October 1947, just under a month after the United States Air Force had been created as a separate service, the tests culminated in the first crewed supersonic flight, piloted by Air Force Captain [[Chuck Yeager|Charles "Chuck" Yeager]] in aircraft #46-062, which he had christened ''Glamorous Glennis''. The rocket-powered aircraft was launched from the bomb bay of a specially modified B-29 and glided to a landing on a runway. XS-1 flight number 50 is the first one where the X-1 recorded supersonic flight, with a maximum speed of Mach 1.06 (361&nbsp;m/s, 1,299&nbsp;km/h, 807.2&nbsp;mph).

As a result of the X-1's initial supersonic flight, the National Aeronautics Association voted its 1947 Collier Trophy to be shared by the three main participants in the program. Honored at the White House by President Harry S. Truman were Larry Bell for Bell Aircraft, Captain Yeager for piloting the flights, and John Stack for the [[NACA]] contributions.<ref>{{cite web |title=Collier 1940-1949 Recipients |url=https://naa.aero/awards/awards-and-trophies/collier-trophy/collier-1940-1949-winners/ |website=naa.aero |access-date=7 December 2021}}</ref>

[[Jacqueline Cochran|Jackie Cochran]] was the first woman to break the sound barrier, which she did on 18 May 1953, piloting a plane borrowed from the [[Royal Canadian Air Force]], with Yeager accompanying her.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/today-in-history-jackie-cochran-breaks-the-sound-barrier-130780022/|title=Today in History: Jackie Cochran Breaks the Sound Barrier|first1=Smithsonian|last1=Magazine|first2=Erica R.|last2=Hendry|website=Smithsonian Magazine}}</ref>

On December 3, 1957, [[Margaret Chase Smith]] became the first woman in Congress to break the sound barrier, which she did as a passenger in an [[North American F-100 Super Sabre|F-100 Super Sabre]] piloted by Air Force Major Clyde Good.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Mach_Buster_Maggie.htm|title=U.S. Senate: Mach-Buster Maggie: The Supersonic Senator from Maine|website=www.senate.gov}}</ref>

In the late 1950s, [[Allen Rowley]], a British journalist, was able to fly in a Super Sabre at 1000&nbsp;mph, one of the few non-American civilians to exceed the speed of sound and one of the few civilians anywhere to make such a trip.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Libraries |first=Leeds |date=2022-03-03 |title=The amazing career of aviation correspondent, author and journalist Allen Rowley |url=https://secretlibraryleeds.net/2022/03/03/the-amazing-career-of-aviation-correspondent-author-and-journalist-allen-rowley/ |access-date=2022-12-24 |website=The Secret Library {{!}} Leeds Libraries Heritage Blog |language=en}}</ref>

On 21 August 1961, a [[Douglas DC-8|Douglas DC-8-43]] (registration N9604Z) unofficially exceeded Mach 1 in a controlled dive during a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base, as observed and reported by the flight crew; the crew were William Magruder (pilot), Paul Patten (co-pilot), Joseph Tomich (flight engineer), and Richard H. Edwards (flight test engineer).<ref name="Wasserzieher">{{cite web |url=http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/i-was-there-when-the-dc-8-went-supersonic-27846699 |title=I Was There: When the DC-8 Went Supersonic |last=Wasserzieher |first=Bill |date=August 2011 |work=Air & Space Magazine |access-date=3 February 2017 |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20140511221659/http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/i-was-there-when-the-dc-8-went-supersonic-27846699/ |archive-date=11 May 2014 |url-status = dead |df=dmy-all}}</ref> This was the first supersonic flight by a civilian airliner, achieved before the [[Concorde]] or the [[Tu-144]] flew.<ref name="Wasserzieher" />