posted 09-29-2024 05:58 PM               

Some comparisons — the X-15 program had 199 flights while the X-1 had either 157 or 158 flights depending on if you count Fred Ascani's account of an "unrecorded" flight on May 10, 1950. Ascani has it recorded on his "Form 5" of flights but is not listed in many "official" lists of flights.

The X-15 program had 12 pilots while the X-1 had 18 or 19, again depending if you count Fred Ascani's flight.

Collectors are able to obtain a set of the 12 X-15 pilot autographs while a complete set of the X-1 pilots is unknown and virtually impossible to attain due to the untimely deaths of many of these pilots as part of a very dangerous profession. That said, obtaining roughly half of the X-1 pilots is certainly attainable.

The X-1 pilots are:

• Joe Cannon
  
• Slick Goodlin
  
• Tex Johnson
  
• Jack Woolams
  
• Robert Champine
  
• Scott Crossfield
  
• John Griffith
  
• Herb Hoover
  
• Howard "Tick" Lilly
  
• Joe Walker
  
• Fred Ascani
  
• Albert Boyd
  
• Frank Everest
  
• James Fitzgerald
  
• Patrick Flemming
  
• Richard Johnson
  
• Gustav Lundquist
  
• Jack Ridley
  
• Chuck Yeager

Shown is a photo that has 26 signatures on it — notably a number of them related to the X-1 program. I believe the plane in the photo is a Bell Aircraft P-39. The signatures are of many of the various Bell Aircraft or Bell Helicopter test pilots.

The list includes the first four X-1 pilots:

• Jack Woolams - X-1 Glide Flight Pilot
  
• Slick Goodlin - X-1 Pilot
  
• Tex Johnston - X-1 Pilot
  
• Chuck Yeager - X-1 Pilot
  
• Dick Frost - X-1 Engineer/Chase Pilot
  
• Robert Stanley - X-1 Designer/Engineer (additional detail below)

Chuck Yeager started out in P-39's before going to P-51's in WWII, Tex Johnston (a Bell test pilot on the P-39 who ended up flying one X-1 flight), Slick Goodlin, Dick Frost (a Bell test pilot who ended up as an engineer on the X-1 and flew chase for some Yeager X-1 flights), and Bob Stanley (another Bell test pilot who ended up as an designer/engineer on X-1). Stanley also developed the idea of launching an aircraft from another aircraft at high altitude. This procedure was used for the launch of the Bell X-1 and X-2 by being dropped from a Boeing B-29 Superfortress at 29,000 ft. Stanley hired and mentored many Bell test pilots, including Tex Johnston and Jack Woolams.

Other known signatures:

• Lyle Bessler - Bell Aircraft test pilot
  
• Joseph Marshman - Bell Helicopter "Mr. Helicopter"
  
• Frank H Kelley - Bell test pilot - XP-59 Nov 1942 Muroc - one of first American jet pilots
  
• Gerald 'Jay" Demming - Bell Helicopter test pilot
  
• Elmer Clutter - Bell Aircraft test pilot
  
• Seymour Rosing - Bell Aircraft test pilot
  
• Robert Stanley - Bell test pilot - XP-59 10/1/42 - FIRST American to fly a jet aircraft (also above)

• Bob Sorvill
  
• Howard S. Cooper
  
• Bob Pierce
  
• Bob O'Gorman
  
• R. G. Constant
  
• Charles Murphy
  
• Frank Hostetter
  
• John W. Wagner
  
• Jim Waite
  
• R O Bouchard
  
• Rudy Gasstash
  
• Ed F Drensky
  
• A.W. Nelson
  
• Joseph A. Band?

posted 09-29-2024 06:25 PM               

Imagine flying through the skies during the second world war when, suddenly, an aircraft appears to your left. The pilot waves at you, but it's not a man – it's a gorilla. This may seem like an implausible occurrence, but it did happen. While it may appear as though the man was a practical joker – and Jack Woolams certainly was – he actually had a clever reason for wearing the getup in flight.

During the second world war, all sides worked on aircraft innovation. A large portion of this development centered around the jet fighter, an aircraft that required no propellers for forward movement. Although Germany was the first to get one in the air with the Heinkel He 178, and the British had earlier produced the required engine, the United States wasn't far behind with its own.

Bell Aircraft signed a contract with the US Army Air Forces on September 30, 1941 to create the country's first. Production was top secret, as the service didn't want other militaries knowing what it was working on.

Bell quickly came up with a working model and, by March 1942, three prototypes were in the works. In September 1942, the XP-59A was taken to Muroc Army Air Field (currently Edwards Air Force Base, California) to begin test flights. The first taxiing test saw pilot Robert Stanley in the cockpit, with Col. Laurence Craigie making the first official flight the next day.

Despite these accomplishments, neither men are especially famous for their flights in the P-59 Airacomet. One who is, however, is test pilot Jack Woolams.

Woolams was a student at the University of Chicago before joining the US Army Air Corps for about 18 months of active duty. He completed his degree upon returning home, after which he got a position as a test pilot with Bell Aircraft's Experimental Research Division.

While in this role, Woolams had a string of successes. In September 1942, he was the first individual to fly a fighter from coast to coast without stopping. The following year, he set an altitude record of 47,600 feet while flying a Bell YP-59A Airacomet, and was the first man to pilot the Bell X-1.

In 1944, Woolams was, understandably, made chief test pilot for the company.

Is that a gorilla in the cockpit?

Perhaps what's best remembered about Jack Woolams is that, while a test pilot for the P-59, he wore a gorilla mask and bowler hat. He also carried a cigar in his mouth. To make things even more comical, he'd join formation with pilots flying regular aircraft and wave at them. As the P-59 was guaranteed to be faster than whatever they were flying, he'd then jet away.

This behavior was more than just fun and games. The existence of the P-59 was supposed to be a secret, yet the aircraft still needed flight hours. One way to get around this was for the test pilots to come up with ways to deceive those who might see it. In Woolams' case, his gorilla mask, combined with the propeller-less aircraft, was unbelievable enough that those on the ground might think whoever reported seeing him were telling tall tales.

Eventually, the USAAF went in a different direction for their first jet fighter. Various pilots said the P-59 paled in comparison to similar aircraft, so the service opted for the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. As for Woolams, he was tragically killed on August 30, 1946, when his aircraft crashed into Lake Ontario during a practice flight for the National Air Races.

It's important to remember that pilots had a pretty good view of one another at this time in aviation history, and the sight of a gorilla with a derby hat, holding a "stogie" flying a plane with no propeller – which pilots believed was necessary for flight – must have been more than a little surprising. Woolams would slyly join formations of unsuspecting propeller-driven fighter pilots. After giving them a jovial wave, Woolams would crank up the speed and leave the baffled pilots wondering if they'd just had an encounter with King Kong's aviation-loving cousin. Many test pilots who were exposed to Woolams' prank were convinced by Air Force psychologists that they hadn't really seen the gorilla flying the plane, "because everyone knows you can't fly without a propeller."

The plane was often fitted with a fake propeller on its nose, so it wouldn't stand out while taxiing.

posted 09-30-2024 07:41 PM               

Autographs are (clockwise from upper left): Scott Crossfield (10 X-1 flights), Bob Cardenas (B-29 mother plane pilot for the X-1), Chuck Yeager (35 X-1 flights including first Mach 1, and max speed - Mach 1.45), Bob Champine (13 X-1 flights), Pete Everest (10 X-1 flights including max altitude), and Slick Goodlin (26 X-1 flights).

In addition to the five X-1 pilots above, I've got Griffith (9 X-1 flights), Lundquist (6 X-1 flights, and thanks to Bob McLeod), R. Johnson (1 X-1 flight), and Walker (2 X-1 flights) each on other covers. So I've got 9 of the 18-19 pilots, "certainly attainable" per Tom's writeup above.

posted 10-01-2024 03:39 PM               

For those of us who have pursued autographs of the X-plane pilots for many years, having a Woolams autograph in our collection is just a dream. But Tom's dream has come true and probably now leads the pack with autographs of the most X-1 pilots.

I was able to obtain individual autographs of 11 of the 19 (including Joe Ascanti), along with this X-1 photo signed by six. But I have just the "standard" ones, with certainly none of those just not found, such as Herbert Hoover, Alvin Johnston, Howard Lilly, James Fitzgerald, Albert Boyd, Patrick Fleming, and of course, Woolams.

posted 10-03-2024 08:38 AM               

I have not seen a Joe Cannon signature on any other item.

Interestingly, the common signatures between this image and Bob's are in the same location in relation to the X-1.