Breaking Barriers

As Yeager throttled the plane ever faster, approaching and then passing 500 and then 600 miles per hour, the Bell X-1 began to shake and rattle on the inside.

Yeager’s face had that focused, determined look, but there was reason for concern.

It was October 14, 1947. Every other pilot who had attempted this had failed, and many people believed sound was like a physical wall, and that exceeding it would lead to catastrophic consequences.

From their perspective, test pilots reported experiencing violent shaking, control loss, and some even watched one of their wings destroyed as they approached 767 miles per hour—Mach One.

Collectively, these experiences fueled the myth of a near-impossible "barrier" preventing further advancement.

As Yeager neared the speed of sound, the aircraft experienced severe buffeting, a violent shaking caused by shock waves that form at very high speeds. Many in the aviation community speculated that these waves would, at best, cause a pilot to lose control; at wor…