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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The saga of George Welch, who beat Chuck Yeager to mach 1, November 6, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Aces Wild: The Race for Mach 1 (Hardcover)
This past summer, I had the good fortune to review "Aces Wild: The Race For Mach 1" for the publisher. To say that this book will generate controversy would be far too mild. This remarkable book will rock much of the old Air Force establishment back on their heels. What author and former test pilot Al Blackburn has done here is to shatter the fifty one year old cover-up that placed Chuck Yeager on an exalted pedestal and denied another, even greater hero, his due acclaim as the first man to fly through the sound barrier. Up to now, George Welch (heir to the grape juice fortune) has not received any credit for his bold feat. Welch managed to get airborne in his P-40 fighter at Pearl Harbor, shooting down four Japanese attackers, and would eventually be credited with 16 victories. In early October, 1947 Welch took up the North American XP-86 Sabre up on its maiden flight, and on his own, dove the Sabre prototype through the much ballyhooed sound barrier weeks before Yeager pushed the Bell XS-1 (X-1) past Mach one. Not only did Welch beat Yeager, he did it more than once before Yeager's mythical record flight. Blackburn weaves the stories of Welch and Yeager together with the excitement of the most dramatic era of aviation since the Wrights teetered off the launch rail at Kittyhawk. The reader is introduced to a facinating cast of characters and can feel the tension of the unofficial race for speed, won by Welch and the Sabrejet only to be buried as a political expedient by the Secretary of the Air Force. Even before being released, NASA and the Air Force are buzzing about Blackburn's book. If the aviation reader were to buy only one book this year, "Aces High" is that book. Don't miss it. It is this years best treat in aviation writing.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Blackburn "Outs" Aviation's Best Kept Secret!, October 23, 2000
This review is from: Aces Wild: The Race for Mach 1 (Hardcover)
Regarding the one reviewer's (Matt's) point that Blackburn's evidence is from biased sources; yes, they are "biased" in the sense that they were people who worked in the North American Aviation F-86 program and are telling us (finally) what went on over there and when it happened. That does not make these individuals liars. "The Right Stuff", "The Quest for Mach 1", and other writings were clearly biased to the Bell Aviation personnel's view of the world. These two "camps" which existed out at Muroc (Edwards) simultaneously were intentionally kept separate and had little or no contact. Therefore it is only reasonable and proper to get the information from each of them. The problem is that none of the earlier writings on breaking the sound "barrier" covered both camps. Thus, up until now, the world only has read and heard one side of the story, the "official" side according to Washington D.C. officialdom. My father-in-law is Larry Greene. He appears several times in Blackburn's book. Larry was North American's chief aerodynamicist, in charge of the F-86's groundbreaking design, particularly the "swept wing" design. He was with North American for about 20 years, rising to Vice President before leaving shortly after the Rockwell merger. I don't know much about aviation, but I do know this man. I have known him since 1981, and I believe him. Larry says the F-86 with Welch in the cockpit went Mach 1 before Yeager and the X-1. He may not have been in the cockpit, but when I recently read the paragraph to him where Welch has the conversation with him and "Stormy", where Welch asks about putting the Sabre into a dive from 35,000 feet, Larry piped up "I told him to do it!". Not being an aviation buff myself, in the past I would sometimes confuse Larry's work with the Bell X-1 project. After all, he had worked on early supersonic aircraft, and the X-1 was all I had learned about in school and at the movies. My wife and I actually rented "The Right Stuff" once when he and Terry were visiting. As we watched the movie, he grew noticeably grumpy and irritated at it. I didn't understand why. I thought he would like to see the events surrounding his career glamorized on screen. This was years ago, and when I pressed him a bit, he muttered something like "we were ready to go supersonic before them, but the politicians held us back". I didn't get the "we vs. them" reference and I wrote it off to old age grumpiness. Later, on other occassions, he would make similar comments if the subject ever came up, sometimes venturing a little further and basically saying "we beat them". I never "got it" until I read Blackburn's book. Unfortunately, Larry is now of an advanced age which makes detailed discussion impossible. Larry is from a generation that knew how to keep a secret. Even 20 or 30 years after the events, I feel he was honoring his word not to discuss the Sabre's early test flights. In retrospect I can see it bubbling up. I can now understand his irritation at all the glory accorded Yeager and the Bell X-1 team. Finally, now, in his waning years, when presented with the words in publication, he is willing to acknowledge the truth. He actually seems relieved to be able to acknowledge it. The publication of Blackburn's book may cause aviation historians to long debate who went Mach 1 first, and others may ask "who cares". I am neither a historian nor an aviation expert, but I consider myself a pretty good judge of character. If Larry Greene tells me the Sabre went Mach 1 on those early test flights, then that's good enough for me and it's what my boys will learn. As for the general public, I believe we would do them a service if all references to the X-1 "breaking the sound barrier" were henceforth followed with an asterisk. That asterisk would lead them to the remarkable story of the remarkable team that developed a remarkable jet, the NAA F-86 Sabrejet. This shouldn't take away from the achievements of the Bell people, including Chuck Yeager; it should just lay out both sides of the story. Oh, by the way, I thought it was a fun book to read, aside from the supersonic issues. Pierre Redmond predmond@qcandy.com
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A superb historical "whodunit", June 18, 2003
This review is from: Aces Wild: The Race for Mach 1 (Hardcover)
What a find -- a terrific read, an interesting poke at one of our most cherished icons, and a wonderful reminiscence about the "golden age of test flight." Mr. Blackburn presents two main ideas in this book -- first, the legendary Chuck Yeager may not have been the first person to pass through the equally legendary sound barrier, and second, the need for public support for flight research dictated the credits for this accomplishment. The author test piloted for North American Aviation, which produced the XP-86 Sabrejet (discussed later), so he has singular credentials and credibility. His research seems reasonably well done, with personal, primary, and backup sources. The first person to become supersonic may well have been North American test pilot George Welch, in the superb new XP-86 fighter prototype. Welch may have jetted past Mach 1 several times before Gen. Yeager's immortalized flight (this takes little away from Yeager, who doubtlessly never felt Welch was first. The author also pays the obligatory adulations to Yeager's skills, although I doubt Mr. Yeager has bought Mr. Blackburn many drinks to celebrate this book). The author gives three reasons to suggest Welch was first. To begin with, the XP-86 aircraft was certainly capable of Mach 1+ (in a shallow dive), and Welch's skill and aggressiveness were up to it, too. Second, although the government gave Welch's team strict orders to let Yeager's Air Force team go first, Welch often cared neither a fiddle nor a fig about such orders. Finally, witnesses heard Welch's sonic booms several times before Yeager's. So why didn't anyone investigate the legitimacy of the claims for Welch and the XP-86 when the flights were performed? The author implies things worked out as they did for three reasons. First, breaking the sound barrier became a vast potential gold mine of publicity, and the "powers that be" wanted this publicity mined for purposes they would determine. Supporters of the brand new Air Force wanted the prestige. Furthermore, tremendous effort had gone into developing specialized research planes like the X-1, and few wanted to see the experimental aircraft program be swept into insignificance by a relatively non-exotic fighter -- the sonic boom was to announce a revolution, not a progression. Even North American later joined that revolution with its own magnificent X-15. Second, about the time the sound barrier was "broken," aviation became very expensive, and progress depended upon public acceptance of the required effort. Therefore, aviation wanted a good publicist, and Yeager proved almost ideal. His confident charm seemed likely to pluck the funding right straight out of a politician's tight but awestruck fists. By contrast, George Welch was a fine young man and a superb pilot, but his speaking and social skills seemed, uh, marginal compared to Yeager's. Recruitment and public support for aviation probably benefitted from Yeager sitting atop the supersonic food chain. Finally, neither Welch nor North American made a big deal of the purported accomplishment (especially since it was forbidden by the top brass), and Welch was tragically killed testing an aircraft not long after these flights. At any rate, he did not keep complete data records for these surreptitious flights, so his methods (having witnesses listen to his sonic booms) were anecdotal. In my opinion, Welch's accomplishment, no matter how possible, is speculative, and Yeager' X-1 still indisputably claims the first properly documented piloted supersonic flight. Not that it matters so much. The author agrees the first supersonic flight turned out to be little more than an inspirational but dangerous adventure, and even for aviation, the publicity-to-direct-benefit ratio was high. The first supersonic flight, like the first Everest climb, was immensely uplifting but hasn't put food on our tables any faster or better. Few people will experience supersonic flight or an Everest climb, but if the stories about the first ones don't cheer your spirit, you should check to see if you can become excited about anything. Mr. Blackburn does far more than advance these ideas, however. With a test pilot's brassy style, he has crafted a genuinely interesting book about one of the most colorful chapters in aviation history, when dangerous and challenging aircraft filled the skies over America's test ranges and when computers weren't around to lower the danger but soften the adventure. The book has unfortunate ommissions. Although the author was a North American test pilot for may years and was granted access to first-source files, he documents these sources poorly in the Bibliography. Regrettably, he tells little about his company, which was an exceptionally productive jewel in aviation's crown. For example, would aviation have benefitted if publicity from the first supersonic flight enabled North American to survive? I hope this superb author will write more about this magnificent corporation, which eventually fell on hard times and became mergered out of existence. Sadly, Mr. Blackburn feels the irreplaceable files he used for this book face an uncerain near-term future and may soon just get tossed into the trash by their new corporate owners. A well-written, fascinating, controversial book, a chance to see how history and progress can be shaped by publicity and the need for the right hero, and a great gift idea for an aviation nut who has everything.
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