A new book by Dan Hampton has claimed that civilian test pilot George Welch that broke the sound barrier instead of Chuck Yeager.
By United States Air Force [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Hampton says Welch accomplished that on Oct. 1, 1947 in a XP-86 by putting the aircraft into a dive. Welch was forbidden by his employer North American Aviation for doing so and the feat was accomplished in secret.
But Welch did ask bar hostess Millie Palmer at Happy Bottom Riding Club to listen out for the sonic boom. And she “told him that the sound was exactly how he described and it shook the walls.”