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Post by viperpilot on Oct 14, 2010 9:04:28 GMT -5
Today is the 63rd anniversary of the day Captain Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager flew faster than the speed of sound in the Bell X-1...  WWII double ace, famed test pilot, Squadron & Wing Commander, Major General; Chuck Yeager helped bring us into the Jet Age.  Alan  |
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Post by beana51 on Oct 14, 2010 9:46:59 GMT -5
The Right Stuff!!..thanx for the memory Alan..The General is now 87 yrs old....An American icon. His life and accomplishments will be part of American aviation lore for ever......wish him well...Vin!! This at Edwards..how appropriate!  |
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Post by jerkymiah on Oct 14, 2010 22:22:48 GMT -5
Have any of you ever read the story of George Welch (of Pearl Harbor fame) breaking the sound barrier before Yeager did in the P-86 prototype which he was testing? I read about it recently, and apparently it's true, but I have on way of verifying it.
Mark
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Post by beana51 on Oct 15, 2010 9:41:47 GMT -5
Somewhat true Mark, however this is the explanition......Thanx Vin!!
George Welch (May 10, 1918–October 12, 1954) was a World War II flying ace, a Medal of Honor nominee, and an experimental aircraft pilot after the war. Welch is best known both for being one of over 17 United States Army Air Forces fighter pilots able to get airborne to engage Japanese forces in the attack on Pearl Harbor and for allegedly being the first pilot to break the sound barrier (two weeks before Chuck Yeager) in his prototype XP-86 Sabre. However, the flight is generally not recognized as an official record because of a lack of a verifiable speed measurement and the fact that it was done in a dive, whereas Yeager's X-1 completed the feat in level flight.
Welch retired from the United States Air Force as a major in 1944
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