As I recall “Slick” Goodlin wanted $150,000 and hazard pay to go supersonic in the X-1. So the USAF said shoot we got captains that make a couple of hundred a month, we can get one of them to fly it.
See wiki enrty here...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalmers_Goodlin
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
check this out..(ya mentioned the x-1), just a couple of model builders having fun and spending big bucks...enjoy!
http://users.skynet.be/fa926657/files/B29.wmv
Yeah, that’s the Goodlin/Yeager storyline that is the ‘official’ line. And the Bell X-1 project was an early research aircraft, so perhaps the pattern wasn’t yet set in stone. By ‘pattern’ I mean that the company/builder uses it’s own resources (pilots) to prove the craft can meet minimum government specs before turning it over to the buyer (USAF or NAVY) for military aircrews to push the envelope.
One of my personal ‘heroes’ was Scott Crossfield, who died last year in a plane crash. Crossfield was the North American company test pilot on the X-15 project. It was his job to test the basic flight charactaristics of that bird before the plane was turned over to the Blue Suits. The story goes that there was a lot of betting as to whether or not Crossfield would firewall it on the last flight just to get the speed & altitude record back in his hands. He didn’t, he stuck to the basic flight plan & the USAF pilots got that honor. (His last flight in the X-15 was the only one where the plane was fully-fueled.)