Was the Me262 the First Airplane to Break the Sound Barrier?

[alex revision]

Was the Me262 the First Airplane to Break the Sound Barrier?




By André Chelain

Was the German jet interceptor Messerschmidt 262 the first airplane in the world to break the sound barrier? The answer to this question is shaking up the aeronautical world, because it could easily knock several shining heroes of the US Air Force from their pedestals.

As far as official historians are concerned, Charles Yeager was the first pilot to achieve the great feat of supersonic flight, on board a Bell X-1 in 1947. In the future, the historians may have to revise their teachings, however. Luftwaffe veterans are claiming that they broke the sound barrier in 1944.

The Americans are uncommonly proud of their pilots, whom they praise to high heaven whenever they set new records or do anything exceptional. In American military legends, breaking the sound barrier was as great a feat as the first space flights.

http://vho.org/tr/2003/1/Chelain69-71.html

[Ray Allan]

Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

On 6 July 1944, the Me 163B V18 (VA+SP), like the B V6, basically a standard production Me 163 airframe outfitted with the new, twin-chamber "cruiser" rocket motor and airframe modifications beneath the original rocket motor orifice to accept the extra combustion chamber, set a new unofficial world speed record of 1,130 km/hr (702 mph), piloted by Heini Dittmar, and landed with almost all of the vertical rudder surface broken away from flutter.

This record was not broken in terms of absolute speed until 6 November 1947 by Chuck Yeager in flight number 58 that was part of the Bell X-1 test program, with a 1,434 km/hr (891 mph), or Mach 1.35 supersonic speed recorded at an altitude of nearly 14,820 m (48,620 ft).

However, it is unclear if Dittmar's flight achieved sufficient altitude for its speed to be considered supersonic, as the X-1 did.

So, pretty close...

https://quora.com/How-close-did-the-...-sound-barrier