All Posts Tagged With: "test pilot"
A Fun Time Turned Smelly
At Chance Vought Aircraft in the Aeronautical Engineering Department, rookies were assigned to experienced engineers for the first year. My tutor, when I worked in the department at times I was not flying, was Al Borserine. (Keep in mind Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marine pilots were still flying propeller planes, not jets.) Al and [...]
6Aug2009 | Wayne Harding | 2 comments | Continued
Test Pilot Helmets
Everyone has a trademark of some kind. Mine is my homemade helmet from 1946 when I was a test pilot for Chance Vought Aircraft in Stratford, CT. At that time, much equipment for test pilots was primitive compared with today. One piece which was very inadequate was our helmets. The ones we used early on [...]
31May2009 | Wayne Harding | 5 comments | Continued
Breaking the Sound Barrier
As I began my learning curve and duties of a test pilot, I became immersed in the challenge of being first to crack the sound barrier, especially since I worked in Aerodynamics much of my time at Chance Vought Aircraft. I had been hired as an engineering test pilot. The barrier in design of future [...]
25May2009 | Wayne Harding | 1 comment | Continued
