The Bell X-1E was an American rocket-powered research aircraft, one of a family of X-1 aircraft built by Bell Aircraft to investigate flight at and beyond the speed of sound. It was created by extensively rebuilding an earlier X-1 airframe with a new, thinner high-speed wing and other structural changes, and it was flown through the late 1950s to extend the original X-1 programs research into supersonic aerodynamics as the aircraft testing agency transitioned from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics into NASA. The X-1 family as a whole is best known for the earliest X-1 aircraft becoming, in 1947, the first piloted airplane confirmed to exceed the speed of sound in level flight.
Facts
SignificanceLast of the X-1 series of research aircraft, its construction benefiting from the lessons of earlier research aircraft programs 1 Manufacturer or BuilderBell Aircraft Corporation 1 In the Other Atlases
Manufactured By
Also in Business Atlas: the manufacturer of this subject.
Sources
1. X-1E Research Aircraft, NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center
Photo caption, Rogers Dry Lakebed image
The Bell Aircraft Corporation X-1E is shown here on the Rogers Dry Lakebed in Edwards, California.
Flight history paragraph on Joe Walker's first glide flight
Walker made the first X-1E glide flight on Dec. 15, 1955.
Opening paragraph, first sentence
The NACA X-1E was the last of the X-1 series of aircraft, and its construction benefited from the lessons of earlier research aircraft programs.
View the SourceWikipedia: Bell X-1
WikipediaIn Group: Rocket-Powered and Hypersonic Research Aircraft, LeadQuote, In Group: Rocket-Powered and Hypersonic Research Aircraft, Lead
The Bell X-1 (Bell Model 44) is a rocket engine-powered aircraft
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