USPS commemorated the 50th Anniversary of the First Supersonic Flight on 14 October 1997. Cancellation postmark for first day cover originated from Edwards AFB, California. Banknote Corporation of America printed a total of 173,000,000 stamps. using an offset press.
The stamp depicted an X1 aircraft, the first plane to fly faster than the speed of sound. Air Force Captain “Chuck” Yeager was at the controls. The first day ceremony for the stamp, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the flight, took place at the Air Force Base where the historic event happened. On 14 October 1947, Chuck Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier.
This stamp included microprinting for security. With a magnifying glass, “X-1” can be seen on the horizontal stabiliser on the tail and a row of three “USPS” is above the wing. Another microprinting caused controversy because on the nose of the plane is written “Glamorous Glenna” a misspelling of Yeager’s plane “Glamorous Glennis,” named after the pilot’s wife.
Since the early 1940s, aviation scientists had been working to solve the problem of breaking the “sound barrier” – the sharp increase in aerodynamic drag that aircraft experience as they approach the speed of sound. For this purpose, the Bell Aircraft Company and the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics built the rocket-powered Bell X-1.
To pilot the craft, the project’s planners selected Chuck Yeager. Born in 1923, Yeager flew 64 combat missions in World War II, claiming 12.5 aerial victories. After the war, Yeager had worked briefly as a flight instructor before taking a job as an assistant maintenance officer in the Flight Test Division. In that role, he got to fly nearly every fighter that came out of maintenance. Yeager’s flying skills were recognized and he was selected in 1946 to join a new test pilot school. After graduating, he was selected to pilot the X-1.
Yeager made his first test flight on 29 August 1947, reaching a speed of .85 Mach. In the following months, he made several other flights coming closer to his goal of Mach 1. Then, on October 14, 1947, Yeager was air-launched from under the bomb bay of a B-29 bomber. When Yeager reached 42,000 feet, he reached a speed of 700 miles per hour and accelerated past Mach 1 – the speed of sound. Due to the top-secret nature of the flight, his accomplishment was kept from the public until the following year.
Yeager continued to test new airplanes for the military until his retirement in 1975. That year, he was awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor for the part he played in breaking the sound barrier. In 2012, he flew in the back seat of an F-15 to re-enact his historic 1947 record.
Since the early 1940s, aviation scientists had been working to solve the problem of breaking the “sound barrier” – the sharp increase in aerodynamic drag that aircraft experience as they approach the speed of sound. For this purpose, the Bell Aircraft Company and the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics built the rocket-powered Bell X-1.
To pilot the craft, the project’s planners selected Chuck Yeager. Born in 1923, Yeager flew 64 combat missions in World War II, claiming 12.5 aerial victories. After the war, Yeager had worked briefly as a flight instructor before taking a job as an assistant maintenance officer in the Flight Test Division. In that role, he got to fly nearly every fighter that came out of maintenance. Yeager’s flying skills were recognized and he was selected in 1946 to join a new test pilot school. After graduating, he was selected to pilot the X-1.
Yeager made his first test flight on 29 August 1947, reaching a speed of .85 Mach. In the following months, he made several other flights coming closer to his goal of Mach 1. Then, on October 14, 1947, Yeager was air-launched from under the bomb bay of a B-29 bomber. When Yeager reached 42,000 feet, he reached a speed of 700 miles per hour and accelerated past Mach 1 – the speed of sound. Due to the top-secret nature of the flight, his accomplishment was kept from the public until the following year.
Yeager continued to test new airplanes for the military until his retirement in 1975. That year, he was awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor for the part he played in breaking the sound barrier. In 2012, he flew in the back seat of an F-15 to re-enact his historic 1947 record.
Source: Mystic Stamps
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