12 Facts About Vance Breese

Vance Breese was an American aviation engineer and test pilot.

Vance Breese was born in Keystone, Washington, on April 20,1904.

In 1926, Breese founded the Breese Aircraft Company at Mills Field, San Francisco and was its president, from 1927 to 1934.

Vance Breese aircraft were produced in small numbers, with seven Vance Breese 5 monoplanes sold, including the Pabco Pacific Flyer that participated in the disastrous 1927 Dole Air Race from Oakland to Hawaii.

Meanwhile, Vultee and Vance Breese had redesigned the V-1 to meet American Airlines' needs and created the eight-passenger V-1A.

In November 1939, the Vultee Aircraft Division of AVCO was reorganized as an independent company but Vance Breese was not part of the company at that point.

Vance Breese was a highly qualified test pilot, having flown more than 100 types of aircraft.

In September 1939, Vance Breese test flew the prototype Vultee P-66 Vanguard.

Vance Breese was a "contract" test pilot for Bell Aircraft, Douglas Aircraft Company and Lockheed.

Vance Breese was involved in the testing of the Bell P-39 Airacobra, Douglas SBD Dauntless and flew the Lockheed P-38 Lightning prototypes through a series of "flutter" tests.

One of the unusual experiments in which Vance Breese was involved, concerned the use of a parachute for an aircraft, successfully demonstrating the device in 1930.

Vance Breese was listed as an Honorary Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.