When Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1, did the scientists and physicists know exactly what the results would be? Were they aware of the sonic boom it would create or if it would compromise the structural integrity of the aircraft in any way?
The Bell X-1 certainly wasn't the first rocket to exceed the sound barrier. Both the British Miles M-52 and the German V-2 rocket exceeded the sound barrier. Scientists knew that the speeds approaching the sound barrier and the sonic boom itself could rip an airplane/rocket apart, several airplanes did fail before X-1 succeeded. The X-1 wasn't created just to see what the sound barrier was, they were looking at improving designs for supersonic flight. America was testing V-2s we had taken from Germany before the Oct 1947 supersonic flight.