Jean "Skip" Ziegler
Jean "Skip" Ziegler (January 1, 1920 – May 12, 1953) was a United States test pilot. He was killed in an explosion of the Bell X-2 during a test flight in 1953.
Biography[edit]
Born in Endeavor, Pennsylvania, on January 1, 1920, Ziegler learnt to fly on his brother's Piper Cub before enlisting in the United States Army Air Forces, flying the Douglas C-47 over the "hump".
After his discharge in 1942, he became a test pilot for Curtiss-Wright, piloting C-46s, P-40 Warhawks as well as the XP-55 Ascender, his first experience on a flying wing. After a brief interlude as a commercial and race plane pilot and Bell rocket engineer, he went on to test North American planes F-86 Sabre, B-45 Tornado, AJ-1 Savage and T-28 Trojan before being selected to work on the Bell Aircraft X-5, X-1D, X-1A and X-2.
Jean Leroy Ziegler completed the first unpowered glide flight of an X-2 at Edwards Air Force Base on 27 June 1952.
Bell Test Flights[1][2][3][4][edit]
| Date | Vehicle | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| 20 June 1951 | X-5 | First test flight of the Bell X-5. |
| 24 July 1951 | X-1D | Glide flight. Nose landing gear damaged during landing. |
| 27 July 1951 | X-5 | First deployment of the swept wing mechanism. |
| 8 October 1951 | X-5 | 20th and final phase 1 flight before being turned over to Air Force pilot Maj. Frank Everest. |
| 27 June 1952 | X-2 | First glide flight of the Bell X-2. Nose landing gear collapsed on landing. |
| 14 February 1953 | X-1A | Planned as a powered flight, issues with the propellants lead to it being completed as a glide flight with a fuel jettison test. |
| 21 February 1953 | X-1A | The first powered flight. |
| 26 March 1953 | X-1A | Successful demonstration of the four cylinder engine operation. |
| 10 April 1953 | X-1A | A planned powered flight, which was limited to mach 0.93 due to an unknown low frequency elevator buzz. |
| 25 April 1953 | X-1A | A planned powered flight, which was cut short due to the turbopump overspeeding leading Ziegler jettisoning the remaining fuel. The mach 0.93 buzz was also noted again. |
| 12 May 1953 | X-2 | Captive-carry flight. An explosion caused by a structural failure in a leather gasket in the engine killed Ziegler and observer Frank Wolko. |
Death[edit]
On May 12, 1953, during a captive-carry flight test over Lake Ontario, X-2, serial number 46-675 suddenly exploded, killing Bell test pilot Jean Ziegler and observer Frank Wolko aboard the EB-50A mothership, which managed to land, although damaged, while the X-2 remains fell in the lake. Neither his body, nor Wolko's or the X-2 wreckage were ever retrieved.[2][5]
Only after several other mysterious X-plane losses was the cause found to be a rocket engine gasket made of Ulmer leather, which decomposed and became explosively unstable after sustained exposure to liquid oxygen.[2][5]
References[edit]
- ^ "X-5 Research Aircraft - NASA". 2014-02-28. Retrieved 2023-11-05.
- ^ a b c "Ziegler, Jean 'Skip'". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Mark Wade. Archived from the original on 28 December 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2022.
- ^ "Second Generation X-1 - NASA". 2014-02-28. Retrieved 2023-11-05.
- ^ "X-2". www.astronautix.com. Retrieved 2023-11-05.
- ^ a b Swopes, Bryan R. (12 May 2022). "12 May 1953". This Day in Aviation. Retrieved 3 June 2022.
Bibliography[edit]
- Peter E., Davies (2017). Bell X-2. X Planes. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. p. 42.
External links[edit]
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