It's the 70th Anniversary of the First Supersonic Flight

Breaking the sound barrier...

The Bell X-1, the first plane to fly faster than sound in 1947.

Supersonic flight—it conjures up ideas of speed, luxury, the future, Jack Stuart reports on wired.com.

But the very first flight to break the sound barrier occurred 70 years ago this month. Since then, we've seen the development and demise of the Concorde, and today's flyers are stuck traveling at boring subsonic cruise speeds of around 600 miles per hour. A trip from LA to New York takes an agonizing five and a half hours, Stuart wrote.

But don’t despair. There are companies and agencies working to bring back the supersonic age, he added.

For a video and report on the 70th anniversary the first supersonic flight: https://www.wired.com/story/its-the-70th-anniversary-of-the-first-supersonic-flight/amp

For an excellent NASA video on breaking the sound barrier and more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aUjf9y556M&feature=youtu.be

The Bell X-1 rocket plane being attached to a modified B-29 in preparation for its first supersonic flight.

Other memorable flight records:

The famous X-15, which flew 4,520 mph at an altitude of 102,100 ft. in 1967, records that still stand.

Lockheed's SR-71 Blackbird was an Air Force reconnaissance plane. It set a record on its last flight in 1990 that still stands: LA to Washington, D.C. in 64 minutes and 20 seconds. Its average speed on the flight was 2,145 mph. At one point on the trip, it was clocked at 2,242 mph.

The SR-71 on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington.

Photos: Pinterest.

Next time on The Allen Report:
What Facebook Did to American Democracy.