Evening star., 1953-10-11
BY w. H. Shippen


Many airplanes which had
leading roles in the 50-year con-
quest of the sky are being
groomed here for a Golden An
niversary exhibit.
One of the most dramatic as
poets of the display is the speed
of technical progress which en-
abled airmen to advance from
81 to more than 1000 miles an
hour within the life of one man.
The two extremes will be rep
resented at the National Air Mu-
scum beginning tomorrow by the
fipSt airplane to lift a man into
the air in powered fight and the
bullet-like Bell XII that first
broke the sonic barrier.
The National Committee for
Observance of the 5Oth Anniver-
sary of Powered Flight has set
aside tomorrow through Thurs
day to focus attention on the
historic planes which helped
America capture numerous avia-
ton "firSts."
Air Exhibition Popular.
Although far from complete,
the aviation exhibit in the
Smithsonian Institution has
proved, year in and year out,
one of the most popular attrac-
tions in Washington. Millions of
visitors, whose favorite for years
was Lindberg's spirit of st.
Louis" have more recently been
able to inspect the Wright
brothers original Flyer" and
the Bell rocket ship.
The interest of the public in
these three models continues to
grow despite the fact that the
needle-noSed. stubby- winged XII
already is rated an antique" by
men moving toward a goal far
beyond the sonic wall - the
thermal barrier" reached at
about $500 miles an hour.
The "big three" and several
other famed airplanes are rich
in past glories, popular anec-
dotes and human interest above
and beyond their worth to tech
nicianS and scientists.
WrightS' Success Recalled.
Every school child remembers
how people no older than their
fathers once laughed at the
Wright brothers, how this ridi-
cule set them apart from other
bicycle repairmen.
Their success story is that of
the poor boys who made good
while only their mother and
father believed in them, and
while others backed by money.
fame and the United States
Government were unable to
match their efforts.
The Wright Flyer, which spent
several generations in England
until its inventors were fully
vindicated in their native land,
is clearly a homemade lob. a
giant box kite with a tiny engine
conceived and built in a shed.
Something of this same
homely quality clings to the
Spirit of st. Louis, constructed
at least in part by the hands
which were to guide it across
the Atlantic in May of 1927.
Constructed With Care.
The tall, gangling, almost-un-
known air mail pilot selected the
parts with care, and saw them
built into a machine which be-
came a part of his whole being
the other half of the inseparable
eve"
BY comparison, the futuristic,
metallic XII appears as imper-
sonal as a space ship from
Mars. yet the character of the
West Virginia farm youth who
first unleaShed its full power
endows the plane with a typical
American quality.
What did young Chuck Yeagef
think about before he fired all
his rockets into the bright desert
sky over Southern California in
.1947?
Nothing in his previous ex-
perience told him what might
happen. He had shot down 13
Nazi fighters over Germany and
flown some of the fastest planes
produced in the United States,
but this was different.
Launched from B-29.
Strapped into his tiny cockpit,
and launched from the bomb bay
of a B-29 Superfort, he had un-
der his control the power to cross
horizon no man had ever
crossed before-the mysterious,
hazardous sonic barrier.
The engineers and the slip
stick men had done all they
could do. The rest was up to
Chuck Yeager. Firing the rock
cts was a bit like being hit in
the back by truck.
Watchers on the ground at
Muroc. Calf. saw the tiny plane
disappear in the blue. Only the
rocket vapor trail was visible. To
Mai. Yeager. then a captain, the
sky was turning darker, the sun
brighter and millions of stars
appeared.
He was on the Threshold, the
point at which q British coll
league had died when his plane