Customer Reviews

Aces Wild: The Race for Mach 1

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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.

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

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.

I first must say that I found out about this book from long time family friend, Neal Scott(NAA Eng., Muroc) and was presented a copy of the book by my cousin Blaine Murray (P-38 recon pilot Italy USAAF). My older brother, Giles gave "Blackie" of his time personal documents, testimonial, guest in my home...and that was that. There are as my brother laughingly said: "That's news to me!" when reading descriptions of my families personal life. I ask 1. What is Yeager's take on the book? 2. Yeager(Dad's junior) used to fly chase planes for Dad. So they must have exchanged conversation,yes...what was said? 3. As with the case with Pearl Harbor on Dec.7,1941 Both Dad and Ken Taylor went up at the same time. I was told by my Mother and Grandfather that Dad and Ken made an agreement for the survivor to take credit for the first air combat victory in the Pacific Theater in WWII

Blackburn reveals the other "side" of aviations greatest moment. Highly crafted account of the challenges and untold hero(s) race to mach 1.

I mis-spoke when I said Yeager received credit for the first Mach 2 flight , it was Scott Crossfield's alone .

I had first heard of the XP-86 beating the X-1 to Mach 1 thru a web site artical quoting this same book . I have a retired test pilot friend who I have known since the 1940's . We had never discussed the X-1 before . When I asked him what he knew about the XP-86 vs the X-1 he told me it was true from what he had heard in his many project stays at Edwards AFB. A second friend who is a retired navy pilot told me the following story: His squadron was flying FJ-1's (the navalized version of the F-86) and were given a tour of North American Aviation's production facility in 1955 to pre-view the up coming FJ-2's and 3's. One of the engineering guides made the comment about the XF-86 actually being the first to go supersonic and made the assurance that it was true . This is a superb book , hands down the best reading I've seen in a long time . It's even better when you have some other authoritive source that confirms some of it. The background history of how , thru politics and favortism, the Mach 1 and Mach 2 "firsts" were awarded to Bell Aircraft and Yeager is more than enough to make you wonder what else has been hidded from the general public !

Al Blackburn was just trying to sell a fictional book using Chuck Yeager's name and trying to promulgate (falsely) a controversy.

The real truth is in Robert Kempel's book The Race For Mach One supplies the forensic evidence that should put the XP-86 versus XS-1 supersonic controversy to rest.

The X-1 is the first to break the sound barrier.

No version of the X-86 broke the sound barrier until well into 1948.

Al Blackburn refuses to debate Robert Kempel, an engineer and an historian. Robert Kempel makes it clear with forensic evidence

It's unbelievable how far and wide this myth has spread, but it makes for a good talking point around symposiums, airports, and hangars. All one need do is to insert key words on the subject into Google and we can read many authoritative dissertations about how a J35 underpowered XP-86 achieved supersonic flight before the XS-1, but the writers never say which engine powered the airplane--it's always,

apparently, assumed to be a J47. Ad infinitum the tale goes on or so it seems.

In Robert Kempel's book, he has the historical record straight contrary to the opinions based on false information re Blackburn's book concerning the supersonic capabilities of the XP-86 from October through December 1947.

Al Blackburn's fictional book that the first prototype XP-86 achieved supersonic speed as early as 1 October 1947 is a myth. Robert Kempel's book dispels this myth through the presentation of documented facts concerning the physical attributes and limitations of the airplane (generally neglected by historians and writers), logical flight-test objectivity and sound test techniques, and with supporting 1947 North American Aviation's own documented flight-test data.

With an objective view of the fledgling 1947 XP-86, I think that with the historical record presented, Mr. Kempel's (NOT Al Blackburn's BOOK ABOVE) book replaces vague anecdotal extrapolation, the documentation dispels speculation, and the conspiracy theorists legend is swept away to reveal a far more accurate and informative, but less romantic, picture of what really happened at Muroc Air Force Base in 1947 between the XS-1 and XP-86 than has ever before been available.

Blackburn certainly makes an interesting point by questioning Chuck Yeager's record of being the first to fly supersonic, but not necessarily a strong one. The evidence is compelling but the witnesses all are from subjective or biased postions. And from a writing point of view, the book constantly switches places and times, and by the middle I found it impossible to determine what exactly was going on. An interesting book for those who really want to know more about the topic; otherwise, not worth the time.