Woolams, Jack
Person · USA
Original archive entry. The text, images and links below are kept as they were written.
American Bell test pilot, flew XP-59A and XS-1. Killed in an air crash during a practice flight for a race that was to occur the next day.
Jack Woolams attended the University of Chicago for two years before joining the Army Air Corps. He served on active duty for approximately eighteen months, after which he returned to the University of Chicago and graduated with a degree in economics in June 1941. Woolams joined Bell Aircraft later that month and was soon transferred from the test flight division to the experimental research division. In September 1942, he became the first person to fly a fighter aircraft coast to coast over the United States without stopping. On December 15, 1943, he set a new unofficial altitude record of 47,600 feet in the YP-59A Airacomet. He became chief test pilot for Bell in 1944, and was the first to fly the X-1 and the only one to pilot the plane at the Pinecastle facility in Orlando, Florida. Woolams' promising career ended abruptly, however, when he was killed during a practice flight for a race that was to occur the next day.
Related
Chronology
11 events
1946 January 19
- XS-1 Flight 1 - . Crew: Woolams. Payload: XS-1 # 1 flight 1. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Woolams. Class: Manned. Type: Manned rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. Bell flight 1. First glide flight of AAF-NACA XS-1 rocket research airplane (No.1 of the original three X-1's built), by Jack Woolams, Bell Aircraft test pilot, at Pinecastle Army Air Base, Fla..
1946 February 5
- XS-1 Flight 3 - . Crew: Woolams. Payload: XS-1 # 1 flight 3. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Woolams. Class: Manned. Type: Manned rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. Bell flight 3. At Pinecastle AAF, Florida..
1946 February 5
- XS-1 Flight 2 - . Crew: Woolams. Payload: XS-1 # 1 flight 2. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Woolams. Class: Manned. Type: Manned rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. Bell flight 2. At Pinecastle AAF, Florida..
1946 February 11
- XS-1 Flight 4 - . Crew: Woolams. Payload: XS-1 # 1 flight 4. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Woolams. Class: Manned. Type: Manned rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. Bell flight 4. Gear retracted, left wing damaged. At Pinecastle AAF, Florida..
1946 February 19
- XS-1 Flight 5 - . Crew: Woolams. Payload: XS-1 # 1 flight 5. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Woolams. Class: Manned. Type: Manned rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. Bell flight 5. Nosewheel retracted on landing runout. Landing-gear door damaged. At Pinecastle AAF, Florida..
1946 February 25
- XS-1 Flight 7 - . Crew: Woolams. Payload: XS-1 # 1 flight 7. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Woolams. Class: Manned. Type: Manned rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. Bell flight 7. Longitudinal and directional stability investigation. At Pinecastle AAF, Florida..
1946 February 25
- XS-1 Flight 6 - . Crew: Woolams. Payload: XS-1 # 1 flight 6. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Woolams. Class: Manned. Type: Manned rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. Bell flight 6. Static directional stability investigation. At Pinecastle AAF, Florida..
1946 February 26
- XS-1 Flight 8 - . Crew: Woolams. Payload: XS-1 # 1 flight 8. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Woolams. Class: Manned. Type: Manned rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. Bell flight 8. Dynamic stability check. At Pinecastle AAF, Florida..
1946 February 26
- XS-1 Flight 9 - . Crew: Woolams. Payload: XS-1 # 1 flight 9. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Woolams. Class: Manned. Type: Manned rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. Bell flight 9. Rate of roll investigation. At Pinecastle AAF, Florida..
1946 March 6
- XS-1 Flight 10 - . Crew: Woolams. Payload: XS-1 # 1 flight 10. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Woolams. Class: Manned. Type: Manned rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. Bell flight 10. Static longitudinal stability investigation. At Pinecastle AAF, Florida..