Page 12 - March 2021 Voices

PJ’s PERSPECTIVE

for the now loaded and heavier X-1. When they pegged off scale. Chuck radioed the engineer in

released him, the X-1 dropped like a rock and the B-29 and told him something was wrong with
lost way too much altitude before Chuck finally the Mach meter. It remained pegged for about
got the nose pointed down and picked up enough twenty seconds, then he shut down the rockets
speed so he could control it. He then fired the and headed for home. Meanwhile, the guys in

rockets, took it up to 45,000 feet and .82 Mach, the tracking van on the ground heard the first
as planned. He turned off the rockets and was sonic boom ever generated by an airplane, and
supposed to jettison the remaining fuel before recorded his speed at Mach 1.07. They learned
gliding in for a no-power landing. However, the later that a small shock wave was interfering with

fighter pilot in him had to show off a little, so he the airspeed gauge on the wing.
went into a high-speed dive, lined up over the After all the anticipation, punching a hole in
main runway and re-lit the rockets as he passed the sound barrier was no big deal! Chuck went
the control tower -- kind of like the “fly by” on to fly a later model X-1 at Mach 2.35 and over

scene in Top Gun. He went straight up and hit 90,000 feet high. One of the modifications they
.85 Mach at 35,000 feet. That little stunt nearly had to make was a new Mach meter. Believe it
cost him his job and risked termination of the or not, the meter in the first X-1 only went to
entire program. Mach 1. That didn’t show much imagination

After many harrowing flights and problems or confidence in the plane that was designed to
with shock waves, they were up to .95 Mach. break the sound barrier.
October 14, 1947 was looking to be a pretty routine My grandfather used to say, “Some people
day, except for the fact that Chuck broke some get in their own way.” Do you ever do that? Do

ribs falling off his horse a couple days before. you limit yourself because you don’t have the
He taped up his ribs so they didn’t hurt so much self-confidence or imagination to try something
when he breathed. He also smuggled a sawed-off new? Walt Disney said, “If you can dream it, you
broom handle aboard to push the door latch can do it.” If your dream seems too big or scary,

closed, because it hurt too much to reach up remember that the path to Mach 1 was done in
and do it, and he certainly wasn’t going to tell .02 steps. No matter how big your dream is, you
his boss about the broken ribs. will never achieve it until you take that first step.
The goal for that day was .97 Mach. The I challenge you to break your own imagination

B-29 pilot dropped him too slow again, so he barrier and soar to greater heights than you ever
had to wrestle the controls to recover from a thought possible.
stall. That didn’t do his ribs much good, but he
gained control, fired the rockets and climbed to

42,000 feet, reaching .92 Mach in the process.
He continued to accelerate as he leveled off,
and the ride was smooth as glass. At .965 Mach,
the needle started to fluctuate wildly, and then

12 ONE COMMUNITY