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USAF Captain Milburn G. Apt becomes the first person to exceed Mach 3. Shortly thereafter, the Bell X-2 goes out of control and Captain Apt is killed.
Related Wikipedia articles
Milburn G. Apt
American test pilot (1924–1956)
Milburn Grant "Mel" Apt was a U.S. Air Force test pilot, and the first man to attain speeds faster than Mach 3. He was killed after separating from the Bell X-2 in his escape capsule during the record-setting flight that exceeded Mach 3. Shortly afterwards, Secretary of the Air…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Bell X-2
Experimental aircraft build to investigate flight characteristics in the Mach 2–3 range
The Bell X-2 was an X-plane research aircraft built to investigate flight characteristics in the Mach 2–3 range. The X-2 was a rocket-powered, swept-wing research aircraft developed jointly in 1945 by Bell Aircraft Corporation, the United States Army Air Forces and the National…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)