JOHN H. GRIFFITH - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 07/09/1999 - HFSID 324348

JOHN H. GRIFFITH
Signed letter from the NACA test pilot dated 1999, giving a brief autobiography, and then writing a detailed explanation of what a typical flight in the experimental Bell X-1 was like. Extremely rare!
Typed letter signed: "John H. Griffith", in black ink, 8½x11. July 9, 1999. In part: "Dear Irene Walinski, I grew up in Homewood, Illinois. Got my two years of Jr College. Joined the Army Air Corps Nov. 1941. Flew 189 missions in New Guinea in P-40. Went to Purdue on the GI bill and graduated with honors in Aero Engineering in Aug 1948. Was hired by NACA Lewis lab at Cleveland. An opening came to fly research planes at Edwards and I started flying there Aug 1949...". John H. Griffith (1920-2011) was a test pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, piloting the Bell X-1, X-4 Bantam, the Douglas Skystreak, and the Douglas Skyrocket. Griffith was hired by the NACA after graduating from Purdue University with an honors degree in Aero Engineering, and although he only stayed with the research lab for two years, set a number of records in experimental flight, including piloting the X-1 #2 to its highest speed of Mach 1.20. He left NACA in 1950 to work for several private flight companies, among them Westinghouse, of which he was appointed Chief Engineering Test Pilot, and the Federal Aviation Administration, where he worked on a prototype supersonic transport plane. In 2006, Griffith was inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor. Light surface creases. Small stains on bottom left margin. Normal mailing folds. Otherwise, fine condition.