Episode 29 --- How the Cold War Spurred the Race for Supersonic Flight

The age of supersonic flight officially began after World War II, when the late Chuck Yeager pushed the Bell X-1 test aircraft beyond the speed of sound (Mach 1) in October 1947.  But bestselling author and highly-decorated fighter pilot Dan Hampton contends that Yeager wasn’t the first pilot to go supersonic in controlled flight.  On this week’s episode, Hampton and I discuss how the Cold War spurred the quest for speed and why Yeager might not have been the first American fighter pilot to break the sound barrier.