He iterated through sixty-five different concepts before settling on using swept-wings, which delay the formation of shockwaves at high speeds. As Chuck Yeager only achieved the first manned supersonic flight on October 14, 1947, Johnson’s team could only hypothesize that supersonic speeds would impose extreme stress on the airframe. On June 3, 1949, test pilot and former aerial racing champion Tony Levier took the XF-90 out for its first flight. However, the J34’s engines proved underpowered, leaving it slower than the Air Force’s excellent F-86 Sabre fighter jet and resulting in long takeoff and landing distances. You have to realize that we hadn’t heard a sonic boom before.”The XF-90 reportedly achieved supersonic speeds fifteen times.

Source: Forbes May 19, 2023 21:26 UTC