Aeroplane Aviation Archive — Issue 33 The World’s Fastest Aircraft

(^44) UNITED STATES
The need for speed
Counter to a modern-day urban myth,
George Welch did not take the XP-86
to supersonic speed in the two weeks
between its  rst  ight and Capt Charles
E. ‘Chuck’ Yeager’s 14 October 1947  rst
journey beyond the speed of sound in
the Bell XS-1 rocket plane. The XP-86 may
have been the second US aircraft to crack
the sound barrier, but it was not the  rst.
However, in September 1948, an F-86A set
the Sabre’s  rst o cial world speed record
of 570mph. This mark was bettered in 1952
by an F-86D interceptor that reached a
speed of 698mph.

North American

F-86 Sabre