News about supersonic planes was boiling out of its military wraps last week.
In Washington, Air Force Secretary W. Stuart Symington finally made formal announcement of a fact that had already leaked: the Bell rocket plane XS-1 had flown "much faster than sound."* The exact speed, said Symington, is "an interesting figure."
Other facts & figures were seeping out to the public. According to good authority, the speed reached by the rocket plane was probably above 1,000 m.p.h. When its oxygen & alcohol fuel was exhausted (after about two minutes at full power), the pilot had to land with dead controls, at 160...
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