Today in Aviation History: First Flight of the Bell X-1

The unpowered first flight of the plane that broke the sound barrier.

Adam Estes
Adam Estes
Bell X-1 46-062 during a test flight above the Mojave Desert (NASA photo)
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VAN Today in Aviation History BannerOn this day in aviation history, January 19, 1946, the Bell X-1 high-speed research aircraft, made its first flight. While this first flight was in fact a gliding test, the X-1 would become the first aircraft to break the sound barrier and launch the famous line of X-planes flown by the US government in the skies above the Mojave Desert.

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Bell X-1 46-062 at rest on the dry lakebed of Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards AFB (National Air and Space Museum)

The Bell X-1, then called the XS-1 (XS standing for “Experimental, Supersonic”), was originally conceived as a joint venture between the Flight Test Division of the U.S. Army Air Force and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to create a manned aircraft capable of exceeding Mach 1, obtaining supersonic speeds while also documenting transonic flight data. It was not the only project to create a supersonic aircraft, as indeed the British firm Miles Aircraft was developing their own supersonic aircraft called the M.52. However, that project was cancelled due to postwar budget constraints, which embittered many in the British aeronautical sector.

Th Bell XS-1, meanwhile, had been discussed as early as December 1944, with specifications laid out for a pilot aircraft that could fly at 800 miles per hour (1,300 km/h) at 35,000 feet (11,000 m) for two to five minutes. On March 16, 1945, NACA and the USAAF awarded Bell Aircraft of Buffalo, New York with the construction of three XS-1s. Bell decided to model the fuselage shape of that of a bullet from an M2 Browning .50 caliber machine gun, already known to be stable in supersonic flight. While revolutionary in many respects, the design was also a product of its time. The XS-1 had no ejection seat, which was still a new technology at this point, and although swept wings and even forward swept wings were tested in wind tunnels with models, it was decided to fit the XS-1 with conventional straight wings. Power to the Bell XS-1 was to be provided by a Reaction Motors XLR11 liquid-propellant rocket engine, which generated 6,000 lbs. of thrust, developed by Reaction Motors, Inc., at Franklin Lakes, New Jersey. It was also intended that the XS-1 was to takeoff from the ground under its own power, but this would force it to use up much of its fuel just to get to a sufficient altitude for flight testing. Instead, it was decided to use a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber as a mothership for the XS-1.

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Bell XS-1 under construction at Bell Aircraft, Buffalo, NY (Niagara Aerospace Museum)

On December 27, 1945, the first Bell XS-1 (XS-1 #1, USAAF serial number 46-062) rolled out of the Bell factory and was soon sent to Pinecastle Army Airfield (now Orlando International Airport), 10 miles southeast of Orlando, Florida. Because the XLR-11 was still not ready for flight testing, it was decided to conduct glide tests on the XS-1 at Pinecastle, with the aircraft being carried in the bomb bay of a B-29.

On January 19, 1946, Bell’s Chief Experimental Test Pilot, Jack Woolams, climbed from the bomb bay of a B-29 into the cockpit of the XS-1. After he was secured, the XS-1 was released from 29,000 feet (8,800 meters), and though unpowered, Woolams had made the first flight of the Bell XS-1 (though some sources say the first glide test occurred on January 25). Woolams completed nine more glide-flights over Pinecastle, with Woolams landing on average 12 minutes later at about 110 miles per hour (180 km/h) before the XS-1 was returned to Buffalo for modifications before the powered flights began. By this point, it had bn decided to move the XS-1 test program to Muroc Army Airfield in the Mojave Desert of California due to better guarantees of secrecy and clearer weather conditions for flight tests. In August 1946, Jack Woolams was killed while flight testing a highly modified Bell P-39 Airacobra named Cobra I during a practice flight for the upcoming National Air Races in Cleveland, Ohio, so fellow test pilots Tex Johnston and Chalmers “Slick” Goodlin continued the X-1 program, with Goodlin becoming the first to fly the X-1 under its own rocket power on December 9, 1946, flying X-1 #2 (USAAF s/n 46-063), but did not exceed Mach 1.

However, the Army Air Force came to feel that Bell’s test program was going too slow, and on June 24, 1947, took over the X-1 flight test program, with X-1 46-062 being tested by the Army Air Force (later to be its own separate branch as the US Air Force), while X-1 46-063 was flown by NACA test pilots. On October 14, 1947, the skies above the dry lakebeds at Muroc echoed with a clap of thunder in the clear blue sky. WWII fighter ace and Air Force test pilot Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager had become the first pilot to fly faster than the speed of sound, doing so in 46-062, now named Glamorous Glennis after his wife.

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Chuck Yeager stands next to the cockpit of the Bell X-1 “Glamorous Glennis” (USAF photo)

The X-1 program would go to encompass a total of seven aircraft built and the test program continued until 1958, when the X-1E (a rebuilt version of X-1 46-063) was permanently grounded, but by then a whole new series of experimental aircraft where being used in flight tests what Muroc (now Edwards Air Force Base). In August 1950, the first X-1, Glamorous Glennis, was donated by the US Air Force to the Smithsonian Institution, and has since been displayed at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., while the later X-1B, 48-1385, can be found at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, and the former X-1 #2 turned X-1, 46-043, is in front of the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center headquarters building at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

So if you find yourself at the National Air and Space Museum, and look up at the Bell X-1, suspended from the ceiling of the Boeing Milestones of Flight, be sure to think not only of Chuck Yeager’s supersonic flight over Muroc Air Force Base, but also of Jack Woolams unpowered gliding flights in the skies over Florida as well.

Bell X 1 Glamorous Glennis at the NASM
Bell X-1, 46-062, Glamorous Glennis, on display in the Milestones of Flight gallery at the National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C. (Photo by Eric Long, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution)
A video of the glide tests at Pinecastle can viewed on this YouTube video here: Bell X-1 glide flights at Pinecastle Army Air Field, Florida

Today in Aviation History is a series highlighting the achievements, innovations, and milestones that have shaped the skies. All the previous anniversaries are available HERE

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Raised in Fullerton, California, Adam has earned a Bachelor's degree in History and is now pursuing a Master's in the same field. Fascinated by aviation history from a young age, he has visited numerous air museums across the United States, including the National Air and Space Museum and the San Diego Air and Space Museum. He volunteers at the Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino as a docent and researcher, gaining hands-on experience with aircraft maintenance. Known for his encyclopedic knowledge of aviation history, he is particularly interested in the stories of individual aircraft and their postwar journeys. Active in online aviation communities, he shares his work widely and seeks further opportunities in the field.
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