Who was the first to break the sound barrier?

Originally posted by JamesBlonde
Look this is a matter of principle, Yeager is always credited with the first through the sound barrier thing which is and always has been false.

Yes, yes, yes. Orville and Wilbur Wright wern't the first to fly.
Baseball was invented by the Russians.
And Chuck Yeager wasn't the first.

Gimme a break. Where is your proof?

If there were anyone with a true claim on this, they would and should have said something years ago. For the German Leuitenant to wait almost 60 years and then come forward, I just don't buy it. He didn't have any way to measure his speed reliably. Just because his plane was buffeted around and he thinks it broke the sound barrier, it doesn't mean it was true. I, too, can come up with some things I did or invented by lurking through the internet.

His story would have been more believable had he 'fessed up to his superiors and had actually received a reprimand of some type. That would have been some sort of proof.

[edit on 13-2-2005 by simtek 22]

As I already posted, Willy Messerschmitt (who ought to know) and the scientists at RAE Farnborough PROVED that the Me 262 airframe was not capable of exceeding mach 0.86 without disentegrating. Therefore he clearly did not go supersonic.