(Translated from French)
The Concorde and the Tupolev Tu 144 were the two airliners to surpass Mach 1, and even more. But, before them, a banal airline plane surpassed the wall of sound on August 21, 1961. Based at Edwards, USA, the Douglas DC-8-43, registered N9604Z is preparing for a very special test flight. Indeed, the crew were given the task of breaking the wall of sound aboard their DC-8 This one takes off with barely 30 minutes of fuel in the tanks and the crew takes the plane to 52,000 feet (more than 15,600 meters, already a record in itself! ), before rider Bill Magruder pushed the handle to put the device in stakes under a half G. This requires maintaining more than 25 pounds of pressure on the handle. The speed starts to pick up, first slowly then more and more. The trim remained neutral throughout the maneuver to prevent the aircraft from straightening itself. The navigator scales speed every 1,000 feet, but due to almost 500 feet per second, he doesn't have much time to catch his breath. Make it 0.9, make it 0.96... device starts to vibrate slightly... its clutch is starting to deform - fortunately, both wings are moving in the same direction and quickly, the vibration stops. The DC-8 is now flying at Mach 1.01! Goal has been reached!
But DC-8 is now sinking down at dizzy speed for a Mach 1.01 liner and it's time to straighten up. The pilot fires slowly down the sleeve but nothing happens! He shoots harder then, but still nothing... Tension rises high in the cockpit. The two riders then try to play on the trim, which refuses to move, nothing to do. So the pilot makes his decision. Instead of trying to straighten the plane at all costs, he'll push on the handle to accentuate the sting even more... and it works, the pressure is weaker on the dampen and the plane is reacting to the handle. The machine stabilizes at 35,000 feet at a subsonic speed. The supersonic sting will only last 16 seconds, but that's a broken record!
Back on the ground, the entire crew is greeted by the Douglas management, with an invitation to lunch by Douglas President Jackson McGowen himself. Flight test manager gives each person a $1,000 bonus.
Thus, a simple DC-8 passed the wall of sound way before the Concorde and the Tu 144.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-...there-when-the-dc-8-went-supersonic-27846699/