Air Force Flight Test Museum
The first man to fly three times the speed of sound was born in Buffalo, Kansas, on April 8, 1924. Apt joined the Army Air Corps in 1941 and was sent to flight training. Commissioned in February 1944, he served with the Caribbean Defense Command until June 1946. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Kansas at Lawrence in 1951 and then graduated from the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, with a degree in aeronautical engineering. He completed the U.S. Air Force Experimental Flight Test Pilot School at Edwards in September 1954.
Apt was well known for remaining cool under stressful situations. While flying chase for a Lockheed F-94C on a test sortie, an emergency arose when the test aircraft crash landed on Rogers Dry Lake, trapping Capt. Richard J. Harer in the cockpit. Apt landed beside the stricken craft and rushed to Harer's aid. At great personal risk, Apt pulled Harer from the burning plane and saved his life.
In April 1955, Apt accepted an assignment as an experimental test pilot at the AFFTC Fighter Operations Branch. He served as a flight test engineer and project pilot on various test programs involving the F-100, F-101, F-102, and F-105. He also conducted extensive inertia coupling tests in the F-100C. He had 3,500 flight hours including more than 1,000 hours in jet aircraft.
Apt was assigned to the X-2 program in February 1956 and flew several chase missions in support of Kincheloe's altitude flights. Finally, in September 1956, he was offered the opportunity to fly the X-2 himself.
To prepare, he studied past performance and time history data from all previous X-2 flights, spent several hours in the simulator, and was briefed by NACA stability experts. He also practiced dead-stick landings in an F-86, optimum flight path techniques in an F-100, and performed ground runs of the X 2 engine. Several times, Apt donned his pressure suit and sat in the X-2 cockpit practicing procedures and simulating failures while supervised by Bell engineers. Kincheloe briefed Apt on all details of X-2 performance and stability characteristics.
Initially, Apt was limited to a maximum speed of Mach 2.45 due to the difficulty of achieving an optimum flight profile on a first attempt. Although this restriction was later modifled, he was instructed to make no effort to obtain maximum speed but rather to stay within previous limits, and to concentrate on refining techniques for achieving an optimum fight profile.
The mission was scheduled for September 27. Just before the flight, Kincheloe - who would perform chase duties - expressed his confidence in Apt's abilities. "You've got it hacked, dad," he told Apt, according to Kincheloe's biographer, James J. Haggerty Jr., in First of the Spacemen.
Preparations began in the predawn hours. Shortly after daybreak, the B-50 carried the X-2 into a clear blue sky over the Mojave Desert. After being lofted to 31,800 feet and released, Apt raced away under full power, quickly outdistancing two F-100 chase planes. He exceeded Mach 1 at 44,000 feet and, with coaching from Kincheloe, achieved a near perfect flight profile that carried the X-2 to 72,200 feet. He nosed over, accelerating rapidly in a shallow dive. Following engine burnout, the X-2 continued to accelerate to nearly Mach 3.2.
This was no small feat. Over the course of eight earlier flights, Everest had experienced great difficulty establishing an optimum flight path. Apt managed it on his first try, and became the first man to fly more than three times the speed of sound.
Still above Mach 3 - and possibly concerned about having sufficient energy to make it back to Edwards - he began an abrupt turn back toward Rogers Dry Lake. This maneuver proved fatal as the X-2 began a series of diverging rolls and tumbled out of control. Apt's final radio transmission sounded like, "There she goes!" He was apparently knocked unconscious for a few moments, but came to and tried to regain control of the aircraft. Unable to do so, Apt separated the escape capsule and was again knocked unconscious as it pitched down violently. By the time he again regained his senses it was too late. He attempted to bail out at extremely low altitude and was lost when the capsule impacted on the Edwards range. The airplane's fuselage and wings fell to Earth five miles away.
Peter W. Merlin
