Warbird Information Exchange

i read in the most current issue of general aviation news that sound barrier legend chuck yeager flew 1 of the f-86 sabres in the howard hughes produced 50's flick entitled "jet fighter" starring john wayne. with howie's connections in the aerospace industry & with the usaf, he didn't have to settle for filming the flying scenes with models as other studios had to. he even got the usaf to loan him an xf-89 scorpion prototype as the russian fighter!!!! the movie was sappy even then, but it's still worth mentioning to you guys & gals!! regards, tom

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Actually George Welch North Amercian Test Pilot/WWII triple ace/Pearl
Harbor hero broke the sound barrier first flying the XP-86 Sabre.

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Don't touch my junk!!

There is a real good article on this George Welch topic....

http://home.att.net/~historyzone/Welch2.html

Lots of good stuff on his site.....

http://home.att.net/~C.C.Jordan/index.html

Tailwinds, Steve.

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Civis Aerius Sum

I am a citizen of the Air

welch 's claim is a debateable topic right up to the next millenium!!! he may be right / he may be wrong..... but yeager is in the books history wise until proved differently. regards. tom

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Also....there were shots taken for the film of the XF-92 flying in Russian markings...and during filming it was flown by Yeager.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

another great snippet of info!!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Tom-

Welch's Sound Barrier flights are very well documented, Al Blackburn has written very extensively about the flights and while I was intially skeptical I was long ago convinced, as are unbiased experts familar with both claims.

Tom-

i have no answers as to the debate of who is right or wrong, it's pointless. i feel the question will be debated long after were gone. all of the facts from both sides have merit, but we pissed away the history from all the confusion.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Welch never really made a claim on his own. Remember he's been dead for fifty years. Flight test instrumentation recorded the parameters of his flight. Secrecy, politics and no Tom Wolfe book featuring him doomed him to obscurity. Except for that Pearl Harbor thing......

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Don't touch my junk!!

Tom-

I'm confused, given that you say it's "debateable" in your first post you seem to question what most have acknowledged as fact in the past 20 years, then you say you have no answers about who is right or wrong. There is no one who is right or wrong this is history. You seem to have nothing to contribute to the discussion except unspecified doubt.

Welch's story is under appreciated, confirmed kills at Pearl Harbor, and a excellent case has been made that not only was he the first thru the Sound Barrier but it was also on the P-86's first flight. Given the reputations of Al Blackburn and Bob Chilton I'm convinced.

Tom-

i think were on the same page.... but their is so much debate, speculation, & gray area as to the actual facts that as of every passing day that it's unsolved will only add to the mystery. same holds true with who shot down von richtofen, what was earhart's demise etc. it's part of what i love about aviation history.... i wait for the documented holy grail of facts, i'm sure you can relate!!! best, tom

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

No to be a stickler but the movie was titled "Jet Pilot".

On another note, has any one woman ever been as sexy in a movie as Janet Leigh was in this one? Holy Cow when she hopes out of the russian plane in that white jump suit...............

whoops!! stickle all you want...... your right on the title!!!! multiple beers after work syndrome strikes again!!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

And on the subject of sticle, it was the XF-89, F-86, T-33 and the X-1 in Jet Pilot. The XF-92 was in Toward the Unknown. And if I remember correctly, the F-86 had to be in a shallow dive to go supersonic.
Don

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I never said the jokes were Good, they're just Free! You gets whatchyas pays for!

I stand somewhat corrected... Yeager flew the X-1 for "Jet Pilot"....it was the last flight of plane #1 on 5/12/1950.


But the XF-92, in a black paint scheme, WAS shot for "Jet Pilot"...but it ended up on the cutting room floor. There was a photo in Air Classics...or Wings or Airpower awhile back.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.