1947: At Muroc Field, Capt Chuck E. Yeager flew faster than-sound for the first time in a rocket-powered Bell XS-1 after being dropped from a B-29. For this most meritorious flight of the year, Yeager received the Mackay Trophy.The XS-1, later designated X-l, reached Mach 1.06, 700 mph, at an altitude of 43,000 feet, over the Mojave Desert near Muroc Dry Lake, California. The flight demonstrated that aircraft could be designed to fly faster than sound. Yeager received the Mackay Trophy for the flight.
The XS-1 was developed as part of a cooperative program initiated in 1944 by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and the U.S. Army Air Forces (later the U.S. Air Force) to develop special manned transonic and supersonic research aircraft.