The first pilot to breach the sound barrier in the recently dubbed “Bell X-1 Supersonic Corridor” was Maj. Alex “Brick” Shuler, an F-22 test pilot
A ceremony honoring the contributions of the team behind the incredible Bell X-1 was held at the 412th Test Wing on this day, 75 years after the aircraft’s success demonstrated that the Sound Barrier was merely an engineering problem. In 1947, a small group of engineers, pilots, and maintenance workers arrived in the Mojave Desert with the goal of breaking through the so-called Sound Barrier. The Bell X-1 exceeded the speed of sound (Mach 1) in level, controlled flight on its ninth powered flight. In addition to celebrating the achievement, the event signaled the start of the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) Expo, Open House, and Air Show at Edwards Air Force Base, which took place over the course of the weekend.
According to James A. Tucker, Air Force Test Center History Office, in the article Edwards Air Force Base celebrates 75 years of Supersonic Flight, with the families of several team members in the audience, Brigadier General Matthew Higer, Commander of the 412th Test Wing, renamed the High Altitude Supersonic Corridor to the Bell X-1 Supersonic Corridor.
At the 2022 Aerospace Valley Open House, Air Show & STEM Expo, the new supersonic corridor was unveiled at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) as part of the 75th Anniversary of Supersonic Flight Ceremony.
The 412th Test Wing Public Affairs’ Adam Bowles stated in the article “Breaking Tomorrow’s Barriers Today: A new corridor to Supersonic Flight” that the supersonic corridor was dubbed in honor of the brave crew who worked together to achieve new human feats. The first pilot to breach the sound barrier in the recently dubbed “Bell X-1 Supersonic Corridor” was Maj. Alex “Brick” Shuler, an F-22 test pilot.
“What I wanted to do was work on airplanes for basically my whole life,” Maj. Shuler explained. “I remember a NASA who was a Super Hornet pilot came to our school and basically talked about his career. That was sort of the day that I realized that I needed to change paths on my life and no kidding, signed up for the Air Force the next week. My dream the whole time going through Test Pilot School was to fly an F-22.”
Maj. Shuler, who is currently an F-22 Test Pilot at Edwards AFB, would have the unique honor of being the first person to break the sound barrier in a new age of supersonic flying.
“This is the only base where I have been stationed where you can go out and do a supersonic test and then come home and have your wife complain that you sonic boomed the house,” Maj. Shuler jokingly explained. “When I request instead of the High Altitude Supersonic Corridor, I will request the Bell X-1 Supersonic Corridor. I think it will be cool to say on the radio.”
“The High-Altitude Supersonic Corridor is officially dead,” Higer said. “We rename that chunk of airspace, that critical piece of our infrastructure in the test and training environment, in honor of the team of Big A Airmen, whose collective individual contributions join into something much more powerful than they could have ever imagined.”
He added;
“We are going to use the supersonic corridor every week to go out and do envelope expansion missions. We got new hardware we are putting on the F-22. This jet is our air-dominance fighter that we will be using for the next decade. There is a lot of work left to do. Hopefully, we can inspire the next generation to study hard and build the next thing.”
A group of Airmen demonstrated that the sound barrier was not impenetrable less than one month after the Air Force became an independent service. Their triumph signaled the start of a new era in aviation, one that would break Machs 2 through 6 above Edwards AFB over the next fifteen years thanks to continuing collaboration between the Air Force, NASA, and other contractors.
Thousands of young students had the opportunity to witness firsthand the inventive spirit of pioneers such as Charles Yeager, Jack Ridley, Robert Cardenas, and Jack Russell, who left their mark on history in a remote corner of the Mojave Desert, not long after the first sonic boom in the now-renamed Bell X-1 Supersonic Corridor sounded above Edwards.
Photo by U.S. Air Force, NASA and Lt. Robert A. Hoover, user:Juloml via Wikipedia