Norman Ray Harris was an American guitarist, producer, music arranger and songwriter, closely associated with Philly soul. He was a founding member of MFSB, the Philadelphia studio band, and one of the Baker-Harris-Young record production trio.

1947Charlie Joiner, American football player^[†]

Charles Joiner Jr. is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for 18 seasons in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL), primarily with the San Diego Chargers. In 11 seasons with the Chargers, he earned all three of his Pro Bowl selections, and was named first-team All-Pro by the Associated Press in 1980. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996.

1947Nikolai Volkoff, Croatian-American wrestler (died 2018)^[†]

Josip Hrvoje Peruzović, better known by his ring name Nikolai Volkoff, was a Croatian-American professional wrestler from Yugoslavia, best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation where he usually played a Soviet heel.

Historical Events

1947Flying the Bell XS-1 over Muroc Army Air Field in California, Captain Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier in level flight, reaching Mach 1.05.^[†]

The Bell X-1 is a rocket engine–powered aircraft, designated originally as the XS-1, and was a joint National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics–U.S. Army Air Forces–U.S. Air Force supersonic research project built by Bell Aircraft. Conceived during 1944 and designed and built in 1945, it achieved a speed of nearly 1,000 miles per hour in 1948. A derivative of this same design, the Bell X-1A, having greater fuel capacity and hence longer rocket burning time, exceeded 1,600 miles per hour in 1954. The X-1 aircraft #46-062, nicknamed Glamorous Glennis and flown by Chuck Yeager, was the first piloted airplane to exceed the speed of sound in level flight and was the first of the X-planes, a series of American experimental rocket planes designed for testing new technologies.