Supersonic

I have always been fascinated by things that fly.  Since I was a boy I have gazed in wonder at airplanes streaking across the sky, jumbo jets taking off and seemingly standing still in the air - and I will never forget my first air show.  Any time I think of an air show I can smell kerosene, hear the whine of the turbofans winding up, and my favorite part - the thunderous, ground-shaking roar of the afterburners that threatens to rattle the fillings from my teeth and I absolutely love it!
Before Chuck Yeager became the first human being to fly faster than the speed of sound there were varying theories about what would happen to the air craft and the pilot the instant the sound barrier was broken.  Some experts believed that it could cause the airframe to break apart and kill the pilot.  Others said it didn't matter because they were skeptical that it was even possible to achieve the speed of sound.  You see, when an object moves through the air it pushes it out of the way, much the same way a boat does water.  If you could see the air around an airplane it would look similar to the triangular wake of a boat.  When a certain speed is approached the waves begin to bend around the aircraft and can no longer get out of the way of each other - they pile up like an accordian and make an invisible wall.  Early airplanes couldn't get through this 'barrier' which kept them from going any faster - all of this took place near the speed of sound.  The quest for supersonic flight led to the design of more powerful engines and sleeker, more aerodynamic airplanes and required brave men to fly them.
The Bell X-1 (which we saw at the National Air and Space Museum but I forgot to photograph) was designed specifically for this purpose and she was given the name 'Glamorous Glennis' -  named after Yeager's wife.  It was basically a rocket motor with wings and a seat and she was built for one thing - speed. Yeager said he had to be a contortionist to get inside the cockpit - which he somehow did the day of the historic flight despite 2 broken ribs  - the result of being thrown from a horse.  He didn't tell the Army doctors about the injury for fear they wouldn't let him fly the mission.  That is the reason for the broken broom handle handed to Yeager in the video below - so he could secure the hatch with his good arm.  Test pilots have always been the ''best of the best" and to me about 2 parts very brave and 1 part pure crazy.  Rather than try to explain his experience, I have included footage here from the movie The Right Stuff - part of which is about Yeager's first supersonic flight.  My understanding is that it is slightly embellished (it's a Hollywood movie...) but I think it tells the story pretty well and it gives me goose bumps no matter how many times I watch it.  Sorry, it is kind of long, but if you have the time, worth watching...

What does this have to do with anything?  For some people, maybe nothing.  For me, it is a metaphor for the last several months.
Sometimes we reach a threshold after enduring many attempts at something or just plain enduring something for a long time - where like Chuck Yeager in his X-1 we are being 'buffeted', or we get 'wobbly' and 'rattled', or things have been 'hectic' and we just aren't sure if we can make it through - and even if we do make it through, there is still the uncertainty of what is waiting for us beyond.  The reward for hanging in there when at last you punch through a seemingly unbreakable (or unbearable) boundary into the unknown can be to discover that you are still accelerating and climbing and you feel like laughing.
That's what I love about Yeager's story.  There were many attempts at the sound barrier - with many set backs - even some serious ones. What is inspiring about it is that he never quit trying. 

This is one of my favorite poems - to me it is a masterpeice that captures the joy of flying - and other things.  The first time I ever heard it was when President Ronald Reagan quoted it after the space shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986.  It was written by John Gillespie Magee Jr, who was a pilot during WWII and tragically (and ironically) died in an airplane crash at the young age of 19.  I share it here in its entirety.

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue

I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

— John Gillespie Magee, Jr

For about 3 hours Thursday night I 'slipped the surly bonds of Earth' and I did 'dance the skies on laughter-silvered wings' - and it was the best 3 hours I've had for a very long time.  I understand a little better now what Mr. Yeager felt as he passed that threshold after a long period of trial and perseverance to the exhilaration and satin sensation of going supersonic.