Mach 2
The first supersonic flight was done by Chuck Yaeger on October 14, 1947. We were just 5 years old. First Mach 2 flight was 6 years later by Scott Crossfield on November 20, 1953. These, of course were Research aircraft powered by rocket engines, not really jet aircraft or anything approaching an operational military airplane. What made my Mach 2 flight on August 12, 1970 unusual was that it was done by a civilian pilot flying solo in a US military airplane. I was in the only airplane in the military inventory at the time that was capable of Mach 2+ flight, the Lockheed F-104C.
The back story is that in the 1960s the Federal Aviation Administration sent 16 pilots through the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base California. I was one of the 16; I got out of the Air Force and went through the test pilot school as a civilian. This was my chance and a few days after checking out in the F-104, I took an early morning solo data gathering flight. After gathering the data necessary for our class's flight test reports, I got into the supersonic corridor, pointed the nose slightly down, lit the afterburner and a little more than a minute later saw 2.0 on the Mach Meter. What a personal thrill: solo Mach 2 flight, 54 years ago as a civilian pilot in a military jet.
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