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Griffith, John Hardy

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Status: Inactive. Born: 1921-05-19. Died: 2011-10-21.

Griffith grew up in Homewood, Illinois. He joined the United States Army Air Corps in November 1941, and served in the South Pacific during World War II. He flew 189 missions in the Curtiss P-40 fighter and was awarded two Distinguished Flying Crosses and four Air Medals.

Following the war, he attended Purdue University, studying aeronautical engineering. He then joined the NACA's Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory. At Lewis he was involved in tests of ramjet aircraft. In August, 1949, Griffith became a research pilot at the Muroc Flight Test Unit (now Dryden Flight Research Center). He flew the experimental aircraft the Bell X-1 (nine flights), X-4 Bantam (three flights), Douglas Skystreak (fifteen flights), and Douglas Skyrocket (nine flights). On May 26, 1950, he piloted the X-1 #2 to its highest speed of Mach 1.20. He was the first NACA pilot to fly the X-4.

Griffith left the NACA in 1950 to fly for private companies - Chance Vought, United Airlines, and for Westinghouse. At Vought, in 1951, he was the Senior Experimental Pilot on the F7U Cutlass. At Westinghouse, he became the Chief Engineering Test Pilot. He later worked for the Federal Aviation Administration, assisting in the development of a never-completed supersonic transport plane. He subsequently returned to United Airlines as a flight instructor, until retiring to Penn Valley, California.

John H. Griffith died October 21, 2011, at the Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, Grass Valley, California, from pneumonia and a dissected aorta. He was 90 years old.

• Birth of John Hardy Griffith. - . Related Persons: Griffith. American test pilot. Flew the XS-1 # 2 and X-4 # 2..

• XS-1 Flight 125 - . Crew: Griffith. Payload: XS-1 # 2 flight 53. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Griffith. Class: Manned. Type: Manned rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. NACA flight 33. Pilot familiarization. Mach 0.9..

• XS-1 Flight 129 - . Crew: Griffith. Payload: XS-1 # 2 flight 54. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Griffith. Class: Manned. Type: Manned rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. NACA flight 33. Mach 0.91..

• XS-1 Flight 135 - . Crew: Griffith. Payload: XS-1 # 2 flight 55. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Griffith. Class: Manned. Type: Manned rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. NACA flight 34. Spanwise pressure distribution, stability and control. Pull-ups and rolls..

• XS-1 Flight 137 - . Crew: Griffith. Payload: XS-1 # 2 flight 56. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Griffith. Class: Manned. Type: Manned rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. NACA flight 35. Spanwise pressure distribution, stability and control. Pull-ups and rolls. Mach 1.13 at 12810 m..

• XS-1 Flight 138 - . Crew: Griffith. Payload: XS-1 # 2 flight 57. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Griffith. Class: Manned. Type: Manned rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. NACA flight 36. Spanwise pressure distribution, stability and control. Pull-ups and rolls. Mach 1.20. Nosewheel collapsed on landing..

• XS-1 Flight 139 - . Crew: Griffith. Payload: XS-1 # 2 flight 58. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Griffith. Class: Manned. Type: Manned rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. NACA flight 38. For pressure distribution and stability and control data. Check of stabilizer effectiveness. Mach 0.98..

• XS-1 Flight 140 - . Crew: Griffith. Payload: XS-1 # 2 flight 59. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Griffith. Class: Manned. Type: Manned rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. NACA flight 39. For pressure distribution and stability and control data. Check of stabilizer effectiveness. .

• XS-1 Flight 141 - . Crew: Griffith. Payload: XS-1 # 2 flight 60. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Griffith. Class: Manned. Type: Manned rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. NACA flight 40. For pressure distribution and stability and control data. Check of stabilizer effectiveness. Also drag investigation. Pull-ups. Mach 0.90..

• XS-1 Flight 142 - . Crew: Griffith. Payload: XS-1 # 2 flight 61. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Griffith. Class: Manned. Type: Manned rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. NACA flight 41. For pressure distribution and stability and control data. Check of stabilizer effectiveness. Also drag investigation. Pull-ups..

• Death of John Hardy Griffith. - . Related Persons: Griffith. American test pilot. Flew the XS-1 # 2 and X-4 # 2..