World’s Greatest Pilots Of All Time

There was a show on the Discovery channel about who were the best pilots in the world, and it might sound funny, but it was a show about birds as masters of the sky. Studying birds, bees and mosquitoes about how do they fly into the air, how do they maneuver, the condition of their wings, on the 17th of December 1903 Wright brothers made the first successful aircraft that could be operated by man.

But do you know who was the first pilot who broke the sound barrier, who was the first pilot who alone without stopping the fly over the Atlantic Ocean, who was the pilot that first flew faster than Max 2? Here, you can see how does the list of the best pilots in the world of the twentieth century looks like.

 The Greatest Pilots Of All Time

• Charles Augustus Lindbergh (1902-1974)

The first solo nonstop flying across the Atlantic Ocean was achieved by him on May 20-21 1927. He had flown more than 3,600 miles in 33 1/2 hours. In 1938 Hermann Goering a high Nazi official presented Lindbergh with a German medal of honor. This acceptance of the medal by Charles site caused an outcry in the United States among critics of Nazism. After the World War 2 he worked as a consultant to the chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force. Charles dies from cancer on August 26.1974 in his home.

 

• Scott Crossfield (1921-2006)

Born in Berkeley, Calf in 1921. In 1950 he joined NASA’s predecessor, and he was a research pilot for the next five years at the High Speed Flight. In 1953 he became the first pilot to fly faster than Mach 2. He retired in 1993, but he still flied his 1961 Cessna 210A to EAA air venture at Oshkosh, Sun ‘n Fun, and other aviation celebrations around the country to give speeches that concentrate more on the future than on the past. He died in a crash in his small plane.

 

• Charles Elwood Yeager (1923-Present)

Born on Feb, 13, 1923 in Myra, W.V. He is the first pilot who flied faster than the speed of sound in the Bell X-1. After he graduated on the Air Staff College he returned to tactical flying as a Squadron Commander in Germany. Later he was designated Commander of the Air Force Research Pilot School at Edwards AFB. Charles retired from duty in March 1975, but he remain an active Enthusiast acting as adviser for various films and programs on aviation.

 

• James Harold Doolittle (1896-1993)

Born at Alemeda, California on December 14, 1896. He studied in Los Angeles on the Junior College and at the University of California. When the World War I, began he was enlisted as a flying cadet in the Army Signal Corps. After that he made a record breaking the trans-continental flight in September 1922 and won the Bendix, Schneider, Thompson etc. James left Army Air Corps in 1930, but in July 1940 he returned back and later he executed the daring 18 April 1942 air raid on Japan, and for this exploit he was awarded with the Medal of Honor. James also wrote ”I could never be so lucky again”, ”An Autobiography”, ”Master of air powers etc. He died on Sept. 27, 1993 in California.

 

• Robert A. Hoover (1922-Present)

Born in Nashville, Tennessee on January 24th, 1922. When World War II was in full swing Hoover assigned in Casablanca to test planes before they go into combat. After the war he assigned in the Flight Evaluation Group at Wright Field,and there he flew the latest aircraft that were tested by the United States Air Force. Hoover is the first man to fly the XFJ-2 Fury Jet and the Navy’s T-28 trainer. He is awarded with the Distinguished Flying Cross, Soldiers Medal, Air Medal and Purple Heart. Now his air show career is over, and his Shrike Commander is on display at the national Air and Space Museum in Virginia.

 

• Jacqueline Auriol (1917-2000)

The world’s first woman test pilot was born in Challans, on 5 November 1917. Her carries began as a tourist pilot in 1948 when she took up flying out of curiosity. But later she was seriously injured when a seaplane crashed into the Seine, her face was almost destroyed but after numerous operations she returned to flying. In 1951 she broke Jacqueline Cochran’s speed record by achieving 507 miles per hour. For that record Auriol was awarded the Legion d’Honneur and the American Harmon Trophy. She was married to Paul Auriol, son of Vincent Auriol a prominent leader in the Socialist party. They divorced in 1967, and had two sons.

 

• Erich Hartmann (1922-1993)

He is born on 19 April 1922 in Weissach near Wurttemberg. Erich had inherited his mother’s gift which was a pilot. In October 1940 in East Prussia he started military training. His first kill was on 5th November 1942 a Russian II-2 Sturmovik ground attack aircraft shot down, and later he had scored 148 kills by 29 October 1943, his award was Knight’s Cross. He became the first fighter pilot to record 352 victories and 825 missions, all his victories were recorded on the Eastern Front. On 24 August 1944, on a day when he shot down eleven enemy aircraft, Major Hartmann surrendered his unit to an American armoured unit on 24 May he was handed over to the Russians, he was sentenced to 25 years hard labour by the Russians, serving 10 years before returning to Germany on 15 October 1955. Erich Hartmann died on 19 September 1993 at Weil in Schonbuch.

 

• Antony W. Levier (1913-1998)

Born in 1913 were a flight instructor, charter pilot, barnstormer, airline pilot, air racer and he chalked up more than 10,000 flying hours in 260 different airplanes. Antony began a career with Lockheed Aircraft in April 1941, he worked into the Engineering Flight Test Department and remained there for 32 years. Levier  was an inventor,he designed the master caution warning light system, the automatic wing stores release, the hot microphone , the first practical afterburner ignition system. Antony also wrote many articles for aviation publications and had numerous aviation inventions. He died in 1998.

 

• Jean Mermoz (1901-1936)

Born in 1901 in France, and on the age of 20 he started flying as a pilot, and a year later he joined the air force of France. In his honor, two streets and a school in France were named by him. Mermoz died two days before his birthday on 7th December 1936.

 

• Noel Wien (1899-1977)

Born on 8th of June 1899, and died on 19th July 1977. He was American pioneer pilot and the founder of Wien Air Alaska, Alaska‘s first airline. He learned to fly in 1921, and three years later he had a chance to fly to Alaska, where he takes his three brothers. In his honor the library in Fairbanks Alaska was named by him.