Colonel Cass Hough

I saw this headline "Test Pilot Scott Crossfield Dies in Crash"

Reminds me of the research I did when I read an article in "Shotgun news" that Cass Hough, creator of the Daisy company (Daisy BB Gun) broke the speed of sound during WWII. I talked with their PR rep and the current president of Daisy said they were full of crap; the plane would break apart at those speeds. They had a typewritten document his secretary typed up in 44, and they sent me the PDF. But I can't blame them for believing he broke the barrier in this test plane. Colonel Cass Hough was a great man and a hero. However, I personally believe it was Chuck Yeager.

So I found these old articles in a 1944 Readers Digest about Colonel Cass Hough
Pages 1,2
Page 3

I actually met Scott Crossfield and had a brief interview with him on camera in Atlanta a few years back. It was pertaining to some EA game that he consulted on, that has long since been outdated. I asked him about pilots breaking the sound barrier in prop planes when the camera was not rolling. Maybe if the altitude was high enough (speed of sound is slower), the dive was right, and the pilot was proficient? I was actually sort of afraid to ask him on camera as it might be offensive to himself and one of his best friends Yeager.

I can not quote him, because this was a casual conversation. But I remember him brushing it off as urban legends. He reminded me that in WWII there were a lot of pilots like Hough that claimed this; and said the amount of confusion from shrapnel, and general air combat would push the planes to the limits were hell enough. He mentioned Mutke in the Luftwaffe, whom I just read about recently being in a rocket jet, but said his description was not accurate and was typical “buffering.” He said everyone knew there was a large bang when you hit the barrier, but propeller planes fall apart at high speeds. That’s why they made rockets and jets, so we can fly faster. He did attribute the possiblilty of other US test pilots near Yeagers flight, but he believed Yeager was the first. I am not enough of an expert on this, and I do regret not recording this.

I have found little info on Hough's version other then his personal experience, and it may just stay that way. We will never know the real answer.

-Producer at IMHz. com

I need a life :)

IRS Fun

So every year people get money back. I don't get money back, I pay. This year; $5,000. So combined with my credit card debts, I should pay it off by the year 2009.

Dominican Republic

So we just got back from a Vacation at Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. We had a blast. Not many Americans there, and I know why, the country is a total pit.

But we enjoyed the coral reefs, the beaches, and the open bar. The food sucks, the people are thieves, the cities are in ruins, the government is non-existant, zero transportation department, and the whole country smells worse then France.

But we still had a blast.