Lonnie Ortega Aviation Art

Frame Size: 16" x 20" ~ First day Cover signed ink by: General Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager. Comes with a COA.

"Chuck" Yeager and the Bell XS-1

by Dan Witkoff

(This frame piece is a "Tribute" to my late friend and Air Show partner "Dan Witkoff" he passed away this passed June 6th 2021.)

General Charles “Chuck” Yeager

“First Man to Break the Sound Barrier”

 The first manned supersonic flight occurred on October 14, 1947, less than a month after the U.S. Air Force had been created as a separate service. Air Force Captain Charles "Chuck" Yeager piloted aircraft #46-062 that he had nicknamed Glamorous Glennis for his wife. The airplane s drop launched from the bomb bay of a modified B-29 Superfortress bomber and reached Mach 1.06 (700 miles per hour (1,100 km/h; 610 kn)). Following burnout of the engine, the plane glided to a landing on the dry lake bed. This was XS-1 flight number 50. The three main participants in the X-1 program won the National Aeronautics Association Collier Trophy in 1948 for their efforts. Honored at the White House by President Truman were Larry Bell for Bell Aircraft, Captain Yeager for piloting the flights, and John Stack for the contributions of the NACA. The story of Yeager’s October 14 flight was leaked to a reporter from the magazine Aviation Week, and The Los Angeles Times featured the story as headline news in their 22 December issue. The magazine story was released on 20 December. The Air Force threatened legal action against the journalists who revealed the story, but none ever occurred. On January 5, 1949, Yeager used Aircraft #46-062 to perform the only conventional (runway) launch of the X-1 program, attaining 23,000 ft. (7,000 m) in 90 seconds.