1. Jack Valentine Woolams was the senior experimental test pilot and later chief test pilot at Bell Aircraft during the introduction of the P-39, P-63, P-59, and X-1 aircraft.
11 Facts About Jack Woolams
1. 2.
Jack Woolams set a world record for altitude and was the first person to fly a fighter jet non-stop across the United States.
3.
Jack Woolams attended the University of Chicago for two years before joining the United States Army Air Corps.
4.
Jack Woolams served on active duty for approximately eighteen months, after which he returned to the University of Chicago and graduated with a degree in economics in June 1941.
5.
Jack Woolams was transferred from the test flight division to the experimental research division.
6.
Jack Woolams became chief test pilot when Stanley was promoted to vice president of engineering.
7.
Jack Woolams became chief test pilot for Bell in 1944.
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Chuck Yeager 8.
Jack Woolams was the first pilot to fly the Bell X-1 and the only pilot to fly the rocket-plane at Bell's research facility at Pinecastle Army Airfield in Orlando, Florida.
9.
Jack Woolams was scheduled to fly the X-1 faster than the speed of sound, but that honor would go to Chuck Yeager.
10.
Jack Woolams died on August 30,1946, in the crash of the modified P-39 Cobra I race-plane during a practice flight for the National Air Races in Cleveland, Ohio, that were to occur the next day.
11.
Jack Woolams was testing the plane over Lake Ontario late in the afternoon at speeds over 400 miles per hour when it suddenly and inexplicably crashed into the water, breaking apart upon impact.