The Right Stuff

by Tom Wolfe

The X–I seemed to shoot straight up in an absolutely perpendicular trajectory, as if determined to snap the hold of gravity via the most direct route possible. In fact, he was only climbing at the 45-degree angle called for in the flight plan. At about .87 Mach the buffeting started. On the ground the engineers could no longer see Yeager. They could only hear … that poker-hollow West Virginia drawl. “Had a mild buffet there … jes the usual instability …” Jes the usual instability? Then the X–I reached the speed of .96 Mach, and that incredible caint-hardlyin’ aw-shuckin’ drawl said: “Say, Ridley … make a note here, will ya?” (if you ain’t got nothin’ better to do) “ … elevator effectiveness regained.” Just as Yeager had predicted, as the X–I approached Mach 1, the stability improved. Yeager had his eyes pinned on the machometer. The needle reached .96, fluctuated, and went off the scale. And on the ground they heard … that voice: “Say, Ridley … make another note, will ya?” (if you ain’t too bored yet) “ … there’s somethin’ wrong with this ol’ machometer …” (faint chuckle) “ … it’s gone kinda screwy on me …” And in that moment, on the ground, they heard a boom rock over the desert floor—just as the physicist Theodore von Kármán had predicted many years before. Then they heard Ridley back in the B–29: “If it is, Chuck, we’ll fix it. Personally I think you’re seeing things.” Then they heard Yeager’s poker-hollow drawl again: “Well, I guess I am, Jack … And I’m still goin’ ups...