Corky Meyer's Flight Journal: A Test Pilot's Tales Of Dodging Disasters-Just In Time

by Corwin 'Corky' Meyer

Designing high-performance military aircraft in the slide-rule era was challenging. Being the first person to fly these airplanes and expand an aircraft's flight envelope was often very frightening, if not downright deadly. It is hard to believe that someone could really endure 22 years in this occupation, plus another 30 years in the aircraft industry, often leading the industry-wide transition from large, too-complicated piston engines to doggy, unreliable jet engines and from 300-mile-per-hour (barn doors÷ through slippery transonic and supersonic airframes. But this is, in fact, the truly remarkable v if not virtually unparalleled v life story of Corky Meyer. In an occupation and time which killed many, if not most, this man had the brains, skill, and good luck to meet every challenge that faced him and survive to tell his amazing story. It is a story that covers the most important era in the history of flight, told by a man at the epicenter of the activity. Corky Meyer's Flight Journal is an electrifying tale of a very passionate and patriotic man, his wife and family, and of course his numerous sensational close calls as an experimental fighter test pilot.

254 pages, Paperback

First published February 11, 2006

About the author

Corwin H. 'Corky' Meyer was born on April 14, 1920 in Springfield, Illinois. After High School he attended the University of Illinois and went on to M.I.T. Corky received his flight training and obtained his commercial, instructor, instrument and multi-engine ratings from the Civilian Pilot Training Program in1940 – 42.
After working as a trainee for Pan American Airways, Corky joined Grumman in 1942 and soon became the project pilot for the F6F Hellcat, F7F Tigercat, F8F Bearcat, F9F Panther, XF10F-1 Jaguar, and the F11F Tiger series.
He has flown many of the high-performance aircraft made in the 1940s, including a Japanese A6M Zero.
In 1947 Corky performed first flight of the XF9F-2 Panther, Grumman’s first jet fighter. He was head of Grumman Flight Operations at Edwards Air Force Base from 1952-56. In 1954 he became the first civilian pilot to qualify aboard an aircraft carrier, when he landed aboard USS Lake Champlain (CVS-39) flying an F9F-6 Cougar.