Re: [GZG] Gzg-l Digest, Vol 35, Issue 9

On Wed, Jul 7, 2010 at 1:39 PM, Indy <indy.kochte@gmail.com> wrote:

>
> And people used to say there was no physical way possible to fly
faster than
> the speed of sound. Proved that wrong, didn't we? Now it's
common-place
> knowledge. :^)
>

I am pretty sure that the problem was not flying at supersonic speed,
but controlling the aircraft once you hit those speeds.  The P-38
Lightning came close to sonic speeds in dives, but compressibilty
issues put such aerodynamic loads on the control surfaces that the
stick could not be moved, until the speed dropped.  The secret to the
X-1 was not the rocket engine that drove it at more than the speed of
sound, but the all flying tail that kept it under control.
_______________________________________________
Gzg-l mailing list
Gzg-l@mail.csua.berkeley.edu
http://mail.csua.berkeley.edu:8080/mailman/listinfo/gzg-l