"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
hlink.net...

"Dudley Henriques" wrote in message
...

Welch's flight the day he went mach 1 was not scheduled as a try for the
barrier. He did it on his own, knowing full well that Yeager was
scheduled the following week to make the attempt in the X1.
There were about 30 people at Pancho's that heard the boom; almost all of
them employees of various aircraft manufactures and military personel
assigned at Edwards for flight test. These people were all quite
knowledgable on the subject of Yeager, Welch, Bell, and the prototype
Sabre. At least 2 of these people knew about Welch making the attempt
that day even though unscheduled.
If you mean by not having proof that Welch's flight didn't make the news
and that it was hushed up by the Air Force, you are absolutely correct.
If you mean that the people I know personally who were there when it
happened were"mistaken", I'm afraid I would tend to allow you your belief
and simply let it go at that :-)
All this having been said, I believe anyone seriously researching deeply
into this event will come up with enough "proof" to choke a horse.
This one is right up there with needing the "proof" that it was Rex
Barber who got Yamamoto and not Lamphier. Given enough time, the Welch
flight will take it's proper place in history.


I'm familiar with Welch's flight that day. That's why I can confidently
say that Welch probably exceeded Mach 1 before Yeager did, but that's all
that can be said about it.


This issue is now and has been for many years, an open ended issue. I can
assure you that there are many out here deeply involved in seeing to it that
this is indeed NOT "all that can be said about it "

Just as Rex Barber finally received the credit he was due for the Yamamoto
mission, so perhaps will George Welch eventually receive his due place in
aviation history.
I can also tell you that in the flight test community as we speak, Yeager's
flight in the X1 never comes up that Welch isn't immediately mentioned and
the scenario corrected to what actually occurred at Edwards before the
drinks go down.
So I would agree with you that in some circles it might be true about all
having been said on the issue. Fortunately in the venues directly related
to the issue, this is far from being a fact of life :-)
Dudley Henriques