I grudgingly give credit to the British for being very clever (magnetron, battle of the beams, etc.) during and after WW2.
Having said that, London had food rationing for 9 years after the war, and really didn't have the money or facilities that the Americans had. (A B-29 was used as the mothership for the X-1!)
The W article below mentions "After the rocket plane experienced compressibility problems during 1947, it was modified with a variable-incidence tailplane following technology transfer with the United Kingdom."
Additionally, around half the X-plane pilots died, so Britain avoided a lot of test pilot fatalities. The US poured unlimited funding and talent into the program, with everybody being stars/aces (Yeager, Hoover, etc.) Both were injured seriously and almost died in various X-plane tests.
One X-plane test pilot set a record, then just quit and started a gun range.
Having said that, London had food rationing for 9 years after the war, and really didn't have the money or facilities that the Americans had. (A B-29 was used as the mothership for the X-1!)
The W article below mentions "After the rocket plane experienced compressibility problems during 1947, it was modified with a variable-incidence tailplane following technology transfer with the United Kingdom."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_X-1
Additionally, around half the X-plane pilots died, so Britain avoided a lot of test pilot fatalities. The US poured unlimited funding and talent into the program, with everybody being stars/aces (Yeager, Hoover, etc.) Both were injured seriously and almost died in various X-plane tests.
One X-plane test pilot set a record, then just quit and started a gun range.