1st airliner to go supersonic was ...

[Felix/FFDS]

the DC-8 ...

Okay, so it was in a controlled test dive, but  it did go over Mach 1 at altitude (and later delivered to Canadian Pacific)

[Mr. Bones]

you can also say the XP-86 was the first aicraft to reach mach 1 and not the X-1. it was flown through mach 1 in a dive before Yeager did it with his orange bird.  ;)

[Hagar]

[quote]you can also say the XP-86 was the first aicraft to reach mach 1 and not the X-1. it was flown through mach 1 in a dive before Yeager did it with his orange bird.

[Craig.]

The Yeagar flight was never billed as the flight flight to break the sound barrier. It was the first aircraft to go mach 1 in "level flight". Or in its case, climbing flight. I have also read that various aircraft in WW2 were reported to have gone faster than the speed of sound, and they reported, something like the reversing of controls???

[Mr. Bones]

The Yeagar flight was never billed as the flight flight to break the sound barrier. It was the first aircraft to go mach 1 in "level flight". Or in its case, climbing flight. I have also read that various aircraft in WW2 were reported to have gone faster than the speed of sound, and they reported, something like the reversing of controls???

I know that Craig. Before Yeager's flight, they weren't sure if the wings would generate positive lift supersonic speeds. When air starts being compressed at fast speeds, streamtubes that get narrower (like over wings) actually slow down and increase in pressure, the opposite of what happens to incompressible air. So it was thought that it was possible that an airplane's wings might generate lift the wrong way (i.e. down) at supersonic speeds.  ;)

[ATI_7500]

I don't think that WW2 aircraft could resist the drag over mach 1. They'd have been blown to pieces near the barrier...

[Hagar]

I don't think that WW2 aircraft could resist the drag over mach 1. They'd have been blown to pieces near the barrier...

You might be correct. I'm wondering if any Luftwaffe pilots experienced it with the Me 163 or Me 262.

It's worth remembering that the DH.108 was inspired by the Me 163. It was basically a Vampire fuselage with a new swept-wing attached. The Vampire fuselage is all-wood construction like the Mosquito.

[Iroquois]

You might be correct. I'm wondering if any Luftwaffe pilots experienced it with the Me 163 or Me 262.

It's worth remembering that the DH.108 was inspired by the Me 163. It was basically a Vampire fuselage with a new swept-wing attached. The Vampire fuselage is all-wood construction like the Mosquito.

There were rumors that the Me 163 Komets did actually go over mach 1. It was never scientifically recorded that they actually did. They were not designed to break records.

[ATI_7500]

The normal operational speed of a Komet was around 950kph. So it wouldn't be a astonishing that some might have broken the barrier.