Download or read book Speed written by Gilliland|Keith Dunnavant Bob Gilliland (Dunnavant) and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2021-06 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On December 22, 1964, at a small, closely guarded airstrip in the desert town of Palmdale, California, Lockheed test pilot Bob Gilliland stepped into a strange-looking aircraft and roared into aviation history. Developed at the super-secret Skunk Works, the SR-71 Blackbird was a technological marvel. In fact, more than a half century later, the Mach 3-plus titanium wonder, designed by Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson, remains the world's fastest jet. It took a test pilot with the right combination of intelligence, skill, and nerve to make the first flight of the SR-71, and the thirty-eight-year-old Gilliland had spent much of his life pushing the edge. In Speed one of America's greatest test pilots collaborates with acclaimed journalist Keith Dunnavant to tell his remarkable story: How he was pushed to excel by his demanding father. How a lucky envelope at the U.S. Naval Academy altered the trajectory of his life. How he talked his way into U.S. Air Force fighters at the dawn of the jet age, despite being told he was too tall. How he made the conscious decision to trade the security of the business world for the dangerous life of an experimental test pilot, including time at the clandestine base Area 51, working on the Central Intelligence Agency's Oxcart program. The narrative focuses most intently on Gilliland's years as the chief test pilot of the SR-71, as he played a leading role in the development of the entire fleet of spy planes while surviving several emergencies that very nearly ended in disaster. Waging the Cold War at 85,000 feet, the SR-71 became an unrivaled intelligence-gathering asset for the U.S. Air Force, invulnerable to enemy defenses for a quarter century. Gilliland's work with the SR-71 defined him, especially after the Cold War, when many of the secrets began to be revealed and the plane emerged from the shadows--not just as a tangible museum artifact but as an icon that burrowed deep into the national consciousness. Like the Blackbird itself, Speed is a story animated by the power of ambition and risk-taking during the heady days of the American Century.
Download or read book A Day in the Life of a Test Pilot written by Michael McKeever and published by Troll Communications. This book was released on 1991 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Depicts the daily work of Major Dana Purifoy, a test pilot who spends part of each day testing airplanes for the Air Force.
Download or read book Speed written by Bob Gilliland and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2021-06 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On December 22, 1964, at a small, closely guarded airstrip in the desert town of Palmdale, California, Lockheed test pilot Bob Gilliland stepped into a strange-looking aircraft and roared into aviation history. Developed at the super-secret Skunk Works, the SR-71 Blackbird was a technological marvel. In fact, more than a half century later, the Mach 3–plus titanium wonder, designed by Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson, remains the world’s fastest jet. It took a test pilot with the right combination of intelligence, skill, and nerve to make the first flight of the SR-71, and the thirty-eight-year-old Gilliland had spent much of his life pushing the edge. In Speed one of America’s greatest test pilots collaborates with acclaimed journalist Keith Dunnavant to tell his remarkable story: How he was pushed to excel by his demanding father. How a lucky envelope at the U.S. Naval Academy altered the trajectory of his life. How he talked his way into U.S. Air Force fighters at the dawn of the jet age, despite being told he was too tall. How he made the conscious decision to trade the security of the business world for the dangerous life of an experimental test pilot, including time at the clandestine base Area 51, working on the Central Intelligence Agency’s Oxcart program. The narrative focuses most intently on Gilliland’s years as the chief test pilot of the SR-71, as he played a leading role in the development of the entire fleet of spy planes while surviving several emergencies that very nearly ended in disaster. Waging the Cold War at 85,000 feet, the SR-71 became an unrivaled intelligence-gathering asset for the U.S. Air Force, invulnerable to enemy defenses for a quarter century. Gilliland’s work with the SR-71 defined him, especially after the Cold War, when many of the secrets began to be revealed and the plane emerged from the shadows—not just as a tangible museum artifact but as an icon that burrowed deep into the national consciousness. Like the Blackbird itself, Speed is a story animated by the power of ambition and risk-taking during the heady days of the American Century.
Download or read book A Test Pilot s Life written by William Dennison Thompson and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Hell of a Ride written by Cynda Thomas and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2008-10 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This biography brings to life the many struggles 'Dick' encountered on his way to success; and the power plays and politics of the corporate involvement regarding his test pilot's career. Not all of Dick's airplane incidents are mentioned, but his significant stories come to life such as: his fiery crash in the T-33; his ejection over Mount Whitney; his spin tests in the F-5's; and his final assignment in the 'black world' as chief project pilot on the highly classified Tacit Blue. From his early childhood in up-state New York, to the difficulties of growing up in a harsh environment, he overcame illness and injury. He kept his determination to do something special, be a test pilot. In his senior years, it describes the tragedy of his pallidotomy surgery for Parkinson's disease that left him disabled and brought about early dementia. To say 'Dick' was a controversial figure in the aerospace industry would be an understatement. To say 'Dick' made his mark and contributed to his aerospace world would be accurate. However, both of these statements would be true. How was he bold, daring and dashing? You will find those answers as you read about him.
Download or read book Always Another Dawn written by Clay Blair and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2018-06-25 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Always Another Dawn: The Story of a Rocket Test Pilot is the story of NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) and Albert Scott Crossfield's work in the post-war years and beyond pioneering the use of rocket-powered planes. Crossfield and his team paved the path for space exploration making this, his autobiography, essential reading for historians and aviation buffs.
Download or read book Testing Death written by George J. Marrett and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2006-05-30 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1969, after his return from Vietnam, George Marrett took a job as a test pilot at Hughes Aircraft. For twenty years, he tested the most sophisticated airborne radar and missiles ever designed for advanced Navy and Air Force aircraft. Marrett's masterful command of storytelling puts the reader in the cockpit during the F-15, F-16, and F-18 weapons systems flyoff, as well as during the firing of a Mach 3 Phoenix missile from an F-14A Tomcat at a Soviet MiG Foxbat target. In addition to the weaponry, Marrett relives stories of espionage, deadly crashes, and the development of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber radar. He combines the thrill of test flying with the pathos, humor, and tragedy that is the everyday life of a test pilot, showing how the Cold War was actually won in the skies above Southern California. The background to Marrett's tale is the story of Hughes Aircraft. While Howard Hughes's huge and unwieldy Spruce Goose never made it into World War II, the Radio Department he started grew to become the electronics giant Hughes Aircraft Company. By the 1950s, Hughes Aircraft built airborne radar and missiles for all of the Air Force interceptors stationed on the East and West Coasts and along the border with Canada to defend the United States from Soviet bombers. In the years that followed, the company built airborne radar for the Navy F-14A Tomcat, the Air Force F-15A Eagle, the Navy F-18A Hornet and the B-2 stealth bomber. They also built the Navy air-to-air AIM-54 Phenix and the Air Force air-to-ground AGM-65 Maverick missiles. These advanced electronic weapons were developed and fielded during President Reagan's massive buildup of military might. Even though Hughes himself did not live to see the Berlin Wall fall in 1989, the company he built made an essential contribution to the collapse of communism.
Download or read book The Tiptoeing Valkyrie written by Bill Shepard and published by . This book was released on 2018-04-18 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Van Shepard rose from a humble upbringing in the Great Depression to pursue his lifelong passion for aviation. After receiving his Army Air Forces pilot's wings in World War II, he became a test pilot for the US Air Force, launching a career in which he flew virtually every category of aircraft. As an industry test pilot, his accomplishments included piloting the largest supersonic aircraft in America's history, the XB-70 Valkyrie, at three times the speed of sound. Along the way, her survived a typhoon's direct hit in Okinawa, a low altitude ejection from a flaming fighter in Ohio, and an emergency landing on malfunctioning gear in California. He met his demise doing what he loved, testing a new aircraft design at Edwards Air Force Base.
Download or read book Wings on My Sleeve written by Eric Brown and published by Orion. This book was released on 2008-09-18 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The autobiography of one of the greatest pilots in history. In 1939 Eric Brown was on a University of Edinburgh exchange course in Germany, and the first he knew of the war was when the Gestapo came to arrest him. They released him, not realising he was a pilot in the RAF volunteer reserve: and the rest is history. Eric Brown joined the Fleet Air Arm and went on to be the greatest test pilot in history, flying more different aircraft types than anyone else. During his lifetime he made a record-breaking 2,407 aircraft carrier landings and survived eleven plane crashes. One of Britain's few German-speaking airmen, he went to Germany in 1945 to test the Nazi jets, interviewing (among others) Hermann Goering and Hanna Reitsch. He flew the suicidally dangerous Me 163 rocket plane, and tested the first British jets. WINGS ON MY SLEEVE is 'Winkle' Brown's incredible story.
Download or read book Always Another Dawn The Story of a Rocket Test Pilot written by Albert Scott Crossfield and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2018-01-04 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Always Another Dawn: The Story of a Rocket Test Pilot is the detailed account of NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) and Albert Scott Crossfield's work in the post-war years and beyond pioneering the use of rocket-powered planes. Crossfield and his team paved the path for space exploration making this, his autobiography, essential reading for historians and aviation buffs.
Download or read book Higher and Faster written by Robert M. White and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-10 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1961, pilot Robert M. White flew a hypersonic rocket-powered airplane six times faster than the speed of sound and higher than 300,000 feet above the Earth's surface. This is his story. Tracing his childhood on the rough streets of Manhattan during the Depression, his years as a pilot and POW during World War II, his service in Korea and Vietnam and his rise as an experimental test pilot in the Air Force, this autobiography is a testament to the role of persistence and excellence in the life of a man whose aeronautical feats are now legend. It is the portrait of an extraordinary man in pursuit of the American dream and a glimpse into a remarkable time in America's aviation history.
Download or read book Tony Blackman Test Pilot written by Tony Blackman and published by Grub Street Publishing. This book was released on 2009-05-19 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tony Blackman OBE, MA FRAeS was educated at Oundle School and Trinity College Cambridge, where he obtained an honors degree in Physics. He learnt to fly in the RAF, trained as a test pilot, and then joined A V Roe where he became chief test pilot. As an expert in aviation electronics he was subsequently invited by Smiths Industries to join their Aerospace Board, initially as technical operations director, helping to develop the new large electronic displays and flight management systems. On leaving Smiths he joined the board of the UK Civil Aviation Authority. He is a fellow of the American Society of Experimental Test Pilots, a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation and a Liveryman of the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators. Tony Blackman – Test Pilot covers Tony’s captivating career, from the RAF, national service and learning to fly, to squadron flying and testing aircraft at Boscombe Down. Tony gives great insight into the world of the aerospace industry and what it takes to be a test pilot. The book is testament to his fascinating life in aviation during which he flew with the legendary Howard Hughes and tested hundreds of aircraft, including Avros, Shackletons, Victors and all three Vulcan bombers – an almost unique experience.
Download or read book Fighter Pilot s Heaven written by Donald S. Lopez, Sr. and published by Smithsonian Institution. This book was released on 2001-03-17 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fighter Pilot's Heaven presents the dramatic inside story of the American military's transition into the jet age, as told by a flyer whose life depended on its success. With colorful anecdotes about fellow pilots as well as precise technical information, Donald S. Lopez describes how it was to be “behind the stick” as a test pilot from 1945 to 1950, when the U.S. military was shifting from war to peacetime operations and from propeller to jet aircraft. An ace pilot who had served with Gen. Claire Chennault's Flying Tiger Fighter Group, Lopez was assigned at the close of World War II to the elite Proof Test Group of the Air Proving Ground Command. Located at Eglin Field (later Eglin Air Force Base) in Florida, the group determined the operational suitability of Air Force weapons systems and aircraft and tested the first operational jet, the P-80 Shooting Star. Jet fighters required new techniques, tactics, and weaponry. Lopez recounts historic test flights in the P-59, P-80, and P-84, among other planes, describing complex combat maneuvers, hair-raising landings in unusual positions, and disastrous crashes and near crashes. This memoir is peppered with lively accounts of many pilots and their colleagues, revealing how airmen coped with both exhilarating successes and sometimes tragic failures.
Download or read book Riding the Wind written by P. Ashoka and published by Vij Books India. This book was released on 2019-07-31 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book is essentially an autobiographical narrative of the author`s experiences as a Fighter pilot and a Test pilot, spanning over his entire flying career of 50 long years, containing unique experiences of historical value. The book perforce contains technical aspects of various types of aircraft flown and tested by him; Trainers, Fighters, Bombers, Transport aircraft, Helicopters, Sailplanes, and Hang Gliders. An effort has been made to present the same in as simple a manner as possible so that even a lay reader can get a fair idea of what Fighter flying and Test flying entails. There are numerous accounts of life-threatening emergencies faced by the author as well as some uncommon dare-devilry indulged in. There is also a spattering of events other than flying, which would give the reader a flavor of the type of life and times the author has been through during his flying years.
Download or read book Luftwaffe Test Pilot written by Hans-Werner Lerche and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Afprøvning af erobrede flytyper (Beuteflugzeugen) i det tidligere Luftwaffen-Testzentrum, Rechlin, under 2. verdenskrig. Forfatteren virkede endvidere som testpilot på mange af Tysklands egne nyudviklede fly. Fløj ialt 125 forskellige flytyper.
Download or read book A Pilot s Story written by Don Volz and published by Trafford Publishing. This book was released on 2012-08 with total page 85 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is my story-the story of a pilot who flew airplanes for some thirty-seven years: ten years in the United States Air Force, primarily in jet fighters, and then twenty-seven years flying commercial jet airliners. I was inspired to write this story after reading the autobiography, a few years ago, of Gen. Chuck Yeager-he being the world-renowned test pilot, World War II fighter ace, and first man to break the sound barrier in the Bell X-1. My story is the story of an average pilot, an average guy who survived several close calls, had many interesting experiences along the way, and often wondered, "Am I still here because I was especially good or because I was especially lucky?" I think the answer is definitely a combination of the two, just as Yeager says or implies in his book. With him, it may have been a larger contribution of skill, but as he said, "The secret of my success is that I always managed to live to fly another day." I have to echo that comment. While flying around the country with American Airlines, during "hours of complete boredom" (as we say), we pilots often traded our "war stories" of our flying (and other) experiences. I often thought that I had many tales that were similar to some of Yeager's and that I should put my experiences down on paper, even if it would only be my family who might read it. So this, then, is my story, my life, primarily, as it revolved around my aviating experiences over some thirty-seven years, from the viewpoint of a pilot who has no particular claim to fame but who has survived "to fly another day." One of the best descriptions of a flying career says: "You start out with a big bag of luck and an empty bag of experience; you want to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck!" I guess I have done that.
Download or read book Pushing the Envelope written by Marion Carl and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2014-03-15 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1994, this stirring autobiography of a fighter and test pilot takes readers full throttle through Carl's imposing list of "firsts." Beginning with his World War II career, he gained such commendations as first Marine Corps ace, among the first Marines ever to fly a helicopter, and first Marine to land aboard an aircraft carrier. His combat duty included the momentous battles at Midway and Guadalcanal. Not one to rest on his laurels, however, he participated in photoreconnaissance operations over Red China in 1955 and flew missions in Vietnam. In peacetime he gamed fame for "pushing the envelope" as a test pilot, adding the world's altitude and peace records to his wartime feats and becoming the first U.S. military aviator to wear a full pressure suit. Such achievements also led to Carl's being the first living Marine admitted to the Naval Aviation Hall of Honor, as well as the first Marine to be named to the Navy Carrier Aviation Test Pilots Hall of Honor. This very readable memoir is as forthright and compelling as the man it chronicles.
