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Brave American test pilot Chuck Yeager climbed inside the Bell X-1 Rocket Plane on the 14th of October 1947. His small but powerful rocket was hooked to the belly of a Boeing B 29 Superfortress that carried him to an altitude of 20,000 feet. Then as his rocket engine started to fire, the B 29 dropped him like a bomb. He then ascended to an altitude of 45,000 feet where he proceeded to push his aircraft to a speed of 670 mph, being the first pilot (and plane) to break the sound barrier.
The X-1 was built by Bell Aerosystems and was powered by a Reaction Motors E6000-C4 Thiokol XLR-11 rocket. It was fueled by a mixture of ethyl alcohol, water, and liquid oxygen. It had a thrust of 6000 pounds.
Bell Aerosystems also made the strangest, most remarkable aircraft in history: The Bell Jet Pack.
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