CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 1 THE WORLD'S FASTEST PLANES The SR-71 Blackbird The SR-71 Blackbird is one of the fastest is one of the fastest planes ever built planes ever built 4
The world's fastest planes depend on an aerodynamic shape and the skilled knowledge of engineers and pilots Fighting the forces of gravity the fastest planes are a blur of sound and color in the sky above 5
CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 2 HISTORY Airplane designs were found in Greece as far back as 400 bc In 1502 Italian Leonardo da Vinci studied birds and designed an aircraft Gliders were developed in the mid and late-1800s Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first controlled flights of a powered airplane on December 17 1903 in North Carolina 6 6 Orville Wright pilots the Wright Flyer I while brother Wilbur runs at the wingtip The first flight lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet 37 m
Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in a Bell X-1 named Glamorous Glennis after his wife Airplanes were used to photograph the enemy during World War I Jet engines were first developed in 1937 US Air Force pilot Chuck Yeager was the first to go faster than the speed of sound in a Bell X-1 on October 14 1947 Later in the 20th century even faster aircraft were developed for the military Civilian aircraft soon followed moving passengers and freight as quickly as possible 7
