North American A-36 Apaches, 91–94, 95, 96–100, 293n
North American F-82 Twin Mustangs, 229, 235–36
North American F-86 Sabres (XP-86), 192, 209, 227, 234
Chilstrom and, 209, 210, 212, 245, 249, 250, 264
design and development, 170, 184, 201–2, 213
Welch and Mach 1 flight claim, 235–40, 244–45, 248–50, 251
Welch test flights, 213, 228–31, 234, 235–40, 244–45, 248–50, 251
North American F-100 Super Sabre (NA-180), 252–53, 261–63
North American FJ-1 Furys, 201, 251
North American P-51 Mustangs, 92–94
design and development, 92–94, 135–36
flight test variants, 160, 173, 185–86
operational history, 145, 150, 154, 155
P-51D and National Air Races, 194–95
North American T-6 Texans, 251
North American T-28 Trojans, 251
North American X-15, 251, 256–57
North American XSN2J, 229
Northrop Grumman X-47B, 260
Northrop YB-49, 257–58
Northwest African Photographic Reconnaissance Wing, 94n
Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF), 94
Northwest African Tactical Air Forces (NATAF), 94
Nuremberg Laws, 70
Oberursel UR.II, 42
Ohain, Hans Joachim Pabst von, 71–72, 74, 77, 126
oil, and Iran crisis of 1946, 196–97
oil campaign of World War II, 80, 137, 139
Operation Tidal Wave, 103–5
Okeechobee hurricane of 1928, 55
Olds, Robin, 193–94, 194n, 196
“On Aerial Navigation” (Cayley), 20
Opel, 137–38
Operation Avalanche, 107–10
Operation Barbarossa, 79–80, 137
Operation Bodenplatte (Baseplate), 146–49, 152–57
Operation Corkscrew, 95–100
Operation Husky, 99–103, 233
Operation Linebacker, 154n
Operation Lusty, 5, 167–68
Operation Nordwind (North Wind), 152–53
Operation Overlord, 143–44
Operation Paperclip, 5, 172
Operation Sea Lion, 132–33
Operation Tidal Wave, 103–5
Operation Torch, 87–91, 95, 293n
Operation Wacht am Rhein (Watch on the Rhine), 149–52, 149n
Orazio, Fred D., 188
ornithopters, 26
Orteig, Raymond, 49
Orteig Prize, 49–50
Osoaviakhim, 70
Pacific Borax Mining Company, 223
Palmer, Millie, 232–33, 234, 236, 237
Panic of 1893, 216
Panic of 1930, 64
Pantelleria Island, 95–100
Panzer Division Hermann Göring, 100, 102–3, 104, 105, 110
parasite drag, 279
Paris in World War II, 144
Pasteur, Louis, 18
patent law, 51n
Patton, George, 100, 101–2
Peenemünde Army Research Center, 113, 133
Peiper, Joachim, 150, 150n
Petrie, Chris, 159, 168
Philadelphia, USS, 109, 110
Phillips, Horatio, 19, 25, 277
Pilcher, Percy, 30
pilot position, 284–85
piston engines, 42–43
pitch, 273, 281–82
Plane Crazy (movie), 55
Pleasence, Donald, 157n
Poage, Bud, 249
Poland, invasion of, 78, 80
Post, Augustus, 49–50, 50n, 290n
Post, Wiley, 66–67, 68
post–World War I, 36–39, 52–55
post–World War II, 167–73
economic expansion, 174–84
Potez 506, 68
Power Jets Limited, 76
Power Jets W.1, 191
Prandtl, Ludwig, 50, 71–72, 114
Pratt truss, 27
Pratt & Whitney, 171, 252, 265
Preddy, Bill, 155n
Preddy, George, 155, 294n
pressurized cockpits, 169
Principia Mathematica (Newton), 15–16
Prohibition, 37, 69–70
Project Extraversion, 160
Projekt 1065, 126
propellers, 42–43, 117
“psychological warfare,” 132
Pulitzer, Joseph, 192
pulse jet engines, 133
Purdue University, 80
Queen Elizabeth, MS, 86
radar technology, 254
radio shows, 54–55
Raid on Los Baños, 233
railways, 139–40, 140n
Raines, Ella, 194n
ramjet, defined, 273
ram pressure, 202, 237
Rancho Oro Verde, 223–24
Ranger, USS, 88, 91
Raskob, John Jakob, 57
Read, Albert Cushing, 16, 39
real estate, 55–56, 177
Reaper, HMS, 168
reciprocating engines, 72, 73
“Red Scare,” 197
Regia Marina, 106
Remarque, Erich Maria, 57
Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, 135, 151, 153, 154, 156
Rheims Air Meet (1909), 48
Rice, Ray, 252
Richthofen, Manfred von “Red Baron,” 40
Rickenbacker, Eddie, 40
Ridley, Jack
background of, 211
update on, 260–61
at Wright Field, 210–11, 225–26, 239–41, 244
X-1 and Yeager, 225–26, 239–41, 243, 244
Ridley, Nell, 260
“ripples,” 247–48
Roaring Twenties, 52–58
Robbins, Lionel, 63
Roberts, J. O., 263
Robins, Benjamin, 115, 280
Rodriguez Mining Company, 121
Rogers Dry Lake, 121–22, 122–23, 213, 223
roll, 196, 282
Rolls-Royce, 94, 124, 161, 171
Rolls-Royce Derwent V, 171
Roma, 106–7
Romans, ancient, 15
Rømer, Ole, 19
Rommel, Erwin, 87–90, 91
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 161
Roosevelt, Elliott, 94n
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, 67–68, 69–70, 161, 162, 178
Roosevelt, Theodore, 28
Roosevelt, Theodore, Jr., 36n
Roosevelt Field, 40, 66–67
Root, Amos, 45–46
Rosamond Dry Lake, 121, 222
Rosengarten, Nate, 201
rotary engines, 41–42
Royal Aircraft Factory, 50, 161
Royal Air Force (RAF), 76, 84–85, 92n, 94, 124, 132, 135, 142, 143, 144
Royal Canadian Air Force, 194
Royal Hawaiian, the, 81, 126
Roybal, Ed, 68n
Rundstedt, Gerd von, 149
Rusk, Dean, 198
Russia. See Soviet Union
Ryder, Charles, 89
Sabres. See North American F-86 Sabres
Salerno, Italy, 107–10
Sangamon, USS, 89
Santa Fe Railroad, 121
Santee, USS, 89
Santella, Gene, 158
Santos-Dumont, Alberto, 46–47, 46n, 287n
Savannah, USS, 109
Savant, Marilyn vos, 115n
Schairer, George, 172
Schirra, Wally, 255
schlieren photographs, 118, 118n
Schmidding SG 34, 3–4
Schmued, Ed, 252
Schneider Cup, 71
Schreiber, Alfred, 134n
Schwartz, George Lewis, 54
Scientific American Trophy, 47
Sea Power in the Pacific (Whittle), 72n
Second World War. See World War II
Selvin, Ben, 58
semimonocoque, 283
Serviceman’s Readjustment Act of 1944, 176–77
Seychelles-Kilimanjaro Air Transport, 259
&nb
sp; shadowgraphs, 115–16, 118
Shell Oil, 71
Shenandoah, USS, 40n
Shepard, Alan, 255, 256
Shicklgruber, Anna Maria, 247
shock waves, 7, 116, 186–87, 227, 229–30, 237, 273
Sicily, Allied invasion of, 95–96, 99–103, 104–6
Sieber, Lothar, 2, 5–6, 157
Sieckenius, Rudolph, 108–9
Simpson, Eber Eugene, 153–54, 153–54n
Sinatra, Frank, 174–75
16th Panzer Division, 108–9
skin-friction, 278
Skorzeny, Otto, 111n, 294n
“Skunk Works,” 124–25
Slayton, Deke, 255
“slow” wings, 28
Smeaton, John, 277
Smith, Lowell, 154
Smith, Martin, 190n
Smithsonian Board of Regents, 51
Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, 64
socialism, 9, 179–80, 181, 197
Solomon Islands campaign, 83–84, 85
Sopwith Pup, 285–86
Soucek, Apollo, 66, 66n
Sound and the Fury, The (Faulkner), 57
sound barrier, xiii–xv. See also speed of sound
use of term, xiii, 209
South Pole, 58
Soviet Union
Cold War, 9, 182, 196–98, 202–4
German invasion of, 79–80, 137
Iran crisis of 1946, 196–97
jet aircraft designs, 171, 253
post-war period, 174, 179–84
Space Race, 254–55, 256
during World War II, 79–80, 87, 88, 105, 132, 143, 153, 162
Spaatz, Carl “Tooey,” 94
Space Race, 254–56
Spanish-American War, 28
Späte, Wolfgang, 125, 127
Specht, Günther, 147–48, 148n
speed of sound, 15–16, 247–48
Ba-349 Viper, 3–4
basic concepts, 115–17, 119, 236–37
defined, 273
Mach number and, 115–16, 136–37
Messerschmitt Me 262, 7–8
Welch’s XP-86 flight claim, 235–40, 244–45, 248–50, 251
Yeager’s X-1 flight, 238–39, 241–45, 248, 249–51
Speer, Albert, 139, 140
Spencer, Alex, 241–42
Spirit of St. Louis, 208
Sputnik 1, 254–55
stabilizers, 227–28
Stack, John, 118, 185, 187
Stalag Luft 1, 145, 157, 173, 174
Stalag Luft III, 148n, 157n
Stalin, Joseph, 9, 87, 162, 181–82, 183
stall, 273, 280
Stanley, Robert, 123, 207–8
“Star-Spangled Banner, The,” 66
stationary engines, 42
Stearns, John, 153n
Stewart, Jimmy, 40, 40n
Stringfellow, John, 22
Suez Canal, 87–88
Sullivan, J. E., 193, 196
Supermarine Spitfires, 76, 93, 94, 106, 135, 136, 145, 259
supersonic, defined, 273
supersonic airflow, 114–19, 185–86
supersonic wave drag, 186–87
Suwanee, USS, 89
Svenska Kullagerfabriken (SKF), 138
Sweeney, Charles W., 163n
swept wings, 114–19, 141, 169, 172, 201–2
Swing, Joe, 86, 233–34, 239, 243, 248
Symington, Stuart, 207, 208, 226, 234, 239, 248, 250
symmetrical airfoils, 276
Syria, 197
Tarzan the Terrible (Burroughs), 37
TAS (true air speed), defined, 273
Task Force 34, 88–89
Task Force 545, 100, 101–2
Taylor, Ken, 81, 82–83, 263
Teapot Dome scandal, 37–38
Technische Universität München, 8
Tedder, Arthur, 94
Temple, Félix du, 19
Texas, USS, 88
30th Bombardment Group, 122
31st Fighter Group, 94
33rd Fighter Group, 90–91, 99
36th Fighter Squadron, 84–86
thrust, 19–22, 24, 41–42, 74, 278
Tibbets, Paul W., 163n
Tinidur, 77
titanium, 253
total drag, 279
transatlantic flight, 39–40
Transavia, 259
transonic, defined, 273
transonic region, 116–17, 119, 172, 185–86, 210, 237
Truman, Harry S., 161, 163, 163n, 178, 203–5, 234, 248
Truman Doctrine, 203–5, 297n
truss bridges, 27
tuition, for veterans, 177
Tunisian Campaign, 88–90, 95–96
turbines, 72, 74
turbojet engines, 72–78
turbulence, 116, 117–18
Turkey, 197, 202–3
Turner, Roscoe, 68–69, 222
Tweedie, William Lang, 74
Twenty-First Amendment, 69
27th Bombardment Group (27th Fighter-Bomber Group), 95, 99, 100–101, 106, 107–8, 108n, 110, 158
U-boat projects, 137
United Nations (UN), 162, 174, 196–97
United Nations Charter, 174
United Nations Security Council, 174
unity of command, 205–7
University of California, Berkeley, 71, 169
University of Göttingen, 71–72
University of Heidelberg, 114
University of Oklahoma, 211
V-1 flying bombs, 133–34
V-2 flying bombs, 133, 171, 229–30
Valiant, HMS, 110
van Leeuwenhoek, Antonie, 18
Variable Density Tunnel, 93
VE Day (May 8, 1945), 162
Vejtasa, Stanley “Swede,” 84, 85
vertical tails, 169, 170, 188, 202, 262, 283
Vichy France, 88–90
Vickers Vimy, 39–40
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, 103
Vietnam War, 154n, 194n, 257n
Virden, Ralph, 136
Virgin, Ed, 160, 173
Voigt, Woldemar, 126
Volstead Act, 37
Volta Conference (1935), 118, 172
von Kármán, Theodore, 114, 118, 119, 172, 185, 230, 234, 261
Vostok 1, 256
Vulcan, 133
Wall Street Crash of 1929, 58–60, 290n
Walter HWK 109-509, 4
Warburton, Ernest K., 159
Warspite, HMS, 110
Watson, Harold, 168–69, 168n, 200
Watt, James, 44, 44n
wave drag, 186–87
Weinberg, Gerhard, 156–57
Weissenberger, Tony, 230
Welch, George
death of, 263–64
early life of, 53–54, 66, 70
education of, 70, 80
at Happy Bottom Club, 232, 243
at National Air Races, 194–95
test pilot at North American Aviation, 159–60, 173, 184, 213
update on, 261–64
during World War II, 80–86, 126, 159
XP-86 and Mach 1 claim, 235–40, 244–45, 248–50, 251
XP-86 test flights, 184, 213, 228–31, 234, 235–40, 244–45, 248–50, 251
Welch, Giles, 239–40
Welch, Janet Williams, 86, 159, 173
Weltanschauungskrieg, 132
Wendel, Fritz, 126–27
Wenham, Francis, 19
Western Airlines, 218
West Side News, 30
Wheeler Field, 81, 82, 83
whips, 15
White, Bob, 256–57, 257n
White, Case, 78
Whitten-Brown, Arthur, 39–40
Whittle, Dorothy May Lee, 75
Whittle, Frank, 72–76, 72n, 119, 124, 171, 185, 191
Williams, Walt, 211–12, 225, 230, 234
wind tunnel testing, 2, 19, 30, 32, 117, 119, 186–87, 201
wing area, 201, 273
wing aspect ratio, 271,
280–81
wing loading, defined, 273
wingspan, 273, 280
wing warping, 31–32, 31n, 43–44, 47–48
Winter Olympics (1924), 38, 38n
women, in post–World War II period, 175–76
women’s suffrage, 37
Wood, Bob, 248
Woolams, Jack, 189–90, 194, 199, 243
World War Foreign Debt
Commission, 53
World War I
aftermath of, 36–39, 52–55
America’s first victory at Cantigny, 36, 36n
Armistice of 11 November 1918, 36
combat aviation during, 40–45, 51–52
reparations, 52–53, 53n
World War II, 79–164. See also specific battles and military operations
aftermath of, 167–73
aircraft losses, 79, 128, 132, 156
attack on Pearl Harbor, 72n, 76, 81–83
end of, 162–64
invasion of Poland, 78, 80
jet fighter designs, 113–29
military casualties, 87n, 105, 156, 163n
strategic bombing during, 137–45
war breaks out, 78, 79–80
Wright, Milton, 30
Wright, Orville, 29–33, 45–49, 51, 264n
meeting Ken Chilstrom, 191–92, 298n
Wright, Ray, 186–87
Wright, USS, 264, 264n
Wright, Wilbur, 29–33, 45–49, 51
Wright Aeronautical, 58
Wright brothers, 29–33, 45–47, 288n
business disputes and patent wars, 31n, 43, 45–49, 51
early research, 29–32
European skepticism, 45–46, 50
first powered flight at Kitty Hawk, xii, xiii, 32–33, 46
ideas about control, 29–31, 45, 46–47, 50
pilot’s proper position, 284–85
Wright Company, 51
Wright Cycle Exchange, 30
Wright Field, 120–21, 122–23, 158–59, 167–69, 185
Wright Flyer, xii, xiii, 16, 32–33, 284–85
Wright-Martin, 51
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, 257, 264
Wright-Patterson Fighter Test Division, xii
Wright Whirlwind J-5C, 58n
Wright XF3W Apaches, 66
WSM Barn Dance, 54
Wunderwaffe, 131–32, 134
XP-86. See North American F-86 Sabres
X-plane experimental program, 260. See also Bell X-1
Yankee Stadium, 38
yaw, 274, 282
Yeager, Charles Elwood “Chuck”
birth of, 38
early life of, 65–66, 67–68
Glennis and, 173, 188
at Happy Bottom Club, 231–32, 240
personality of, 243–44
selection for X-1 test flights, 209–10, 226
update on, 259–60
during World War II, 86, 144, 151, 160
at Wright Field, 173–74, 191, 209–10, 213, 219–20, 224–28
X-1 and Mach 1, 238–39, 241–45, 248, 249–51
X-1 test flights, 224–28
X-1A and Mach 2 plus, 253–54
Yeager, Glennis Dickhouse, 173, 188, 231, 240
Yorktown, USS, 84
Young, James, 212, 224
Zemke, Hubert “Hub,” 157n
Zeppelin Company, 114