Les,
First supersonic flight varies, with
at least one P-47 pilot claiming he went supersonic in a dogfight in 1945.
Big problem was that the aircraft COULD
go supersonic in a shallow dive but there was a loss of control with the
early F-86 (the A used elevators, but the E added a flying tail; that was
the result of the X-1 experiments and recommendation from Chuck Yeager).
The MiG-15 would literally disintegrate
if it went supersonic, and both the MiG-15 and MiG-15bis had a sensor to
pop the airbrakes when it got too close to its limits.
Remember "everything" in the early
1950s had to be faster and better, like the tail fins on a '59 Chevy!
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