Warbird Information Exchange

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.”

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.

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!!

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

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).

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.