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HRES 736 IHEH

Whereas the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and its successor agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), developed and sustained the world's preeminent aeronautics research program after NACA's formation in 1915;

Whereas the speed of sound once presented a seemingly impenetrable and dangerous barrier to piloted flight;

Whereas NACA, the U.S. Air Force, and Bell Aircraft undertook a joint project to develop and test the X-1 aircraft and achieve piloted supersonic flight;

Whereas on the morning of October 14, 1947, an X-1 aircraft piloted by Captain Charles `Chuck' Yeager was dropped from a B-29 carrier aircraft and `broke the sound barrier' and achieved supersonic flight for the first time in history;

Whereas this flight provided proof of the feasibility of piloted supersonic flight, and delivered the data required to improve high speed performance and develop technologies for advanced supersonic aircraft; and

Whereas subsequent X-plane aeronautics research projects have built on the historic accomplishments of the X-1 aircraft and achieved advances in a wide range of aeronautics research areas: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

(1) recognizes and honors the contributions of the scientists and engineers of NACA and its partners who pioneered the technologies to enable supersonic flight;

(2) recognizes and honors the bravery of Charles Yeager, and the bravery of the many other test pilots who, sometimes at the cost of their lives, enabled the aeronautics developments that made that first supersonic flight possible; and

(3) recognizes the importance of strong and robust aeronautics research activities to the well being of America.