First Through The "Sound Barrier"!?!?

[Wheels up]

Anyone substantiate this??....

Colonel Cass Hough went on extended active duty in the 8th Air Force, just six months prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. A decorated test pilot and fighter pilot, he didn’t return from overseas until October, 1945, having won many an air battle from the English Channel to New Guinea. Most notably, he had the distinction of having tested the limits of the Lightning P-38 in an experimental, yet successful, 43,000-foot vertical dive during which the plane broke the sound barrier.

According to his Air Force citation which was accompanied by the Distinguished Flying Cross, “Colonel Hough achieved…the longest terminal velocity dive in history. He knowingly and deliberately entered unknown regions of the air. The courage, skill and devotion to duty displayed by this officer reflect the highest credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of the United States.”

From a 1943 issue of Lockheed-Vega Star (company newspaper)...

LtCol. Hough, from Plymouth, MI made the longest vertical dive in history in a P-38, and thus flew faster than any human being, at 780 mph.

Is this true? I was researching this fellow after buying an old aircraft logbook with Cass S. Hough listed as owner/purchaser. Fascinating history lesson. He was Vice President of Daisy then later President and responsible for many innovations there and moved the company to AR. Performed some pretty exhaustive research on P38 performance and developing droop snoot versions.

[Dan K]

Several stories exist of pilots reporting off-the-chart airspeeds in compressibility dives during WWII... P-38, P-47, Spit etc. Attribute it to the limitations of the airspeed indicators then used.

The fact is that the P-38 airframe cannot exceed mach (Unless as payload on the Space Shuttle).

[RickH]

Scott Crossfield told me that he did dive tests in the beefed up NACA P-51 specifically to try to break the sound barrier. He said that he could see the shockwave off of the wingtip but never was able to exceed the speed of sound. He too, had heard the claims of several pilots who said they had done it during the war, his comment was " he doubted that they really were able to do it in a straight wing propeller driven aircraft ".

Last edited by RickH on Fri Sep 21, 2007 10:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

[mustangdriver]

One word, "Yeager"

[Dan Newcomb]

Two words. George Welch

[mustangdriver]

No one is sure that he ever did it, as there was no NACA spped measuring equipment on hand. Also the X-1 did it straight and level, while George was attempting it in a dive. There was no doubt about the X-1.

[Dan Newcomb]

I knew that would get some of you going.

[Jack Cook]

George Welch did it and the AF knew it and ordered that it be kept quiet.
Welch deserved all the WWII fame and post war fame he never got.
He was a true american hero and the right stuff should have been about him.
He bested Yeager with kills, missions flown, combat time, awards and the mach record!!

[mustangdriver]

George Welch did it and the AF knew it and ordered that it be kept quiet.
Welch deserved all the WWII fame and post war fame he never got.
He was a true american hero and the right stuff should have been about him.
He bested Yeager with kills, missions flown, combat time, awards and the mach record!!

Well Jack all are true except the speed record. That is your opinion.

[Richard W.]

Colonel Cass Hough went on extended active duty in the 8th Air Force, just six months prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor....

A minor point, I suppose, but this part of the story is in error.

The Eighth AF wasn't activated until January of 1942.

[Jack Cook]

In September, 1947, the F-86 project moved to the Muroc test facility (now Edwards AFB, California), the same base at which the Bell X-1 was being developed. North American was instructed by Secretary of the Air Force Stuart Symington that they were not, under any circumstances, to break the sound barrier before the X-1 achieved this milestone. However, Welch disregarded this order, and during a test flight on October 1, 1947 he entered a steep dive from 35,000 ft. During the dive, Welch observed symptoms compatible with Mach jump, and according to some, a sonic boom was heard at the base. However, due to problems with the landing gear, further full-speed flights were delayed. On October 14, the same day that Yeager was to attempt supersonic flight, Welch reputedly performed a second supersonic dive. This time he started from 37,000 ft, and executed a full-power 4g pullout, greatly increasing the power of his apparent sonic boom. Yeager broke the sound barrier approximately 30 minutes later.

To justify the investment in the X-1 program, the Pentagon allegedly ordered the results of Welch's flights classified and did not allow North American to publicly announce that the XP-86 had gone supersonic until almost a year later. The Air Force still officially denies that Welch broke the sound barrier first. However, in the film that the USAF made about Yeager's flight the narrator says that Yeager was the first man to "fly faster than the speed of sound in level flight" (see Sound barrier - Media). Welch's flights were unofficial and not tracked by NACA measuring equipment, making verification impossible (pitot tubes of the day suffered from compressibility effects near the speed of sound).

Me and a few bizillion others

[Jack Cook]

From Arlington cemetary
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/gswelch.htm

Due to the political investment in the X-1 program, the Pentagon ordered the results of Welch's flights classified and in fact did not allow North American to publicly announce that the XP-86 had gone supersonic until almost a year later. The Air Force still denies that Welch broke the sound barrier first. However, a USAF documentary about the X-1 says the X-1 and Yeager were the first to break the sound barrier "in level flight". This leaves the door open for Welch's claim.

[Bill Kistler]

There are several reports of the ME163 breaking the sound barrier during dives however it could not be reported at the time. So there is no telling how many German pilots may have.

Bill.

[Dan Newcomb]

The F-86 OFFICIALY exceeded Mach 1 on April 26, 1948. Just six months later. The same plane Welch flew on the day CY broke Mach 1. Also I might point out that everybody knew there was no such thing as a BARRIER. That was just hype. It was well known that Nazi V2s exceeded the speed of sound and they were shooting them off at White Sands on a regular bases in 1947. CY probably was the first to do it in LEVEL flight, but a credible argument can be made that Welch broke Mach 1 first.

[Chicoartist]

Interesting, as always, when we discuss 'controversial' history here.

In an Air & Space article circa 2002 or so, the issue was addressed, and the slant of the very good article was that Welch did indeed produce a sonic boom(s) when he says he did ... I believe the article stated that he (Welch) instructed witnesses to listen for a boom at such and such a time - when he would be flying - and they heard same.

I'm not too familiar with the details, and I no longer have the magazine - did he ever secure affidavits from the "witnesses"?? If not, and as we know there were no scientific measuring instrumentation onboard the aircraft, then Welch's story will remain "unverified" at best.

Yeager was the first to do it officially, as we all know, and deserves all the accolades he's gotten over the years, but the article made a VERY strong case that Welch ALSO broke the "sound barrier", with a good chance that he did it before Yeager. I know first hand from a very popular author that Air & Space won't publish a piece unless you have your ducks in a row.

Part of the "problem" for Welch's case in the long run was that he died in 1954 testing the YF-100A - a strong voice in his own behalf was silenced.

Wade