29 October 1953: Lieutenant Colonel Frank Kendall (“Pete”) Everest, U.S. Air Force, flew the new prototype air superiority fighter, North American Aviation’s YF-100A Super Sabre, serial number 52-5754, over the 3 kilometer and 15 kilometer courses at the Salton Sea, California. For four runs on the short course, Everest averaged 757.75 miles per hour. Next came four speed runs over the 15/25 kilometer course. All runs were made with the Super Sabre flying within 100 feet (30 meters) of the ground. The official Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) average speed was 1,215.298 kilometers per hour (755.151 miles per hour). This was a new world speed record. FAI Record File Num #8868 [Direct Link] Status: ratified – retired by changes of the sporting code Region: World Class: C (Powered Aeroplanes) Sub-Class: C-1 (Landplanes) Category: Not applicable Group: 3 : turbo-jet Type of record: Speed over a straight 15/25 km course Performance: 1 215.298 km/h Date: 1953-10-29 Course/Location: Salton Sea, CA (USA) Claimant Frank K. Everest (USA) Aeroplane: North American YF-100A Engine: 1 Pratt & Whitney J-57 The course at the Salton Sea was used because its surface lies 235 feet (72 meters) below Sea Level. The denser air causes undesired supersonic effects to occur at higher speeds, allowing the pilot a greater margin of control during the speed record runs. Pete Everest joined the United States Army Air Corps shortly before the United States entered World War II. He graduated from pilot training in 1942 and was assigned as a P-40 Warhawk pilot, flying combat missions in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. He was credited with shooting down two German airplanes and damaging a third. Everest was returned to the United States to serve as a flight instructor. He requested a return to combat and was then sent to the China-Burma-India theater of operations. He shot down four Japanese airplanes. He was himself shot down by ground fire in May 1945. He was captured by the Japanese and suffered torture and inhumane conditions before being freed at the end of the war. After the war, Everest was assigned as a test pilot at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, before going west to the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California. At Edwards, he was involved in nearly every flight test program, flying the F-88, F-92, F-100, F-101, F-102, F-104 and F-105 fighters, the XB-51, YB-52, B-57 and B-66 bombers. He also flew the pure research aircraft, the “X planes”: the X-1, X-1B, X-2, X-3, X-4 and X-5. Pete Everest flew the X-1B to Mach 2.3, and he set a world speed record with the X-2 at Mach 2.9 (1,957 miles per hour, 3,149.5 kilometers per hour) which earned him the title, “The Fastest Man Alive”. Frank Everest returned to operational assignments and commanded a fighter squadron, two combat crew training wings, and was assigned staff positions at the Pentagon. In 1965, Everest was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. He was commander of the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service. He retired from the Air Force in 1973 after 33 years of service. General Everest died in 2004. The YF-100A prototype had flown faster than Mach 1 on its first flight with North American test pilot George S. Welch. It was the first airplane capable of supersonic speed in level flight. Originally planned as an improved F-86 Sabre, there were so many improvements that it became an entirely new airplane. The most obvious feature is the 45° sweep to the wings’ leading edge and the low placement of the horizontal tailplane. The YF-100A is 47 feet, 1.25 inches (14.4 meters) long (with the pitot boom folded) and has a wingspan of 36 feet, 7 inches (11.15 meters). It was powered by a single Pratt and Whitney XJ57-P-7 turbojet engine, rated at 9,500 pounds of thrust, or 13,200 pounds with afterburner. The YF-100A had a maximum speed of 660 miles per hour (1,062.17 kilometers per hour) at 43,350 feet (13,213 meters) and a service ceiling of 52,600 feet (16,032 meters). The Super Sabre was produced as the single seat F-100A, F-100C, and F-100D, and the two-place F-100F. Originally intended as an air superiority day fighter, the F-100 evolved into a fighter bomber and was used extensively in the early years of the Vietnam War. It was armed with four 20 mm M39 revolver cannons with 275 rounds per gun and could carry a variety of bombs, rockets or missiles on under wing and fuselage hard points. The Super Sabre was in production from 1954 until 1959, with a total of 2,294 built. The last F-100 to serve with the United States was retired in 1979. r/max
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 22:00:31 +0000