Jean "Skip" Ziegler
Jean "Skip" Ziegler (1920-1953) was a United States test pilot. He was killed in an explosion of the Bell X-2 during a test flight in 1953.
Biography[]
Born in Endeavor, Pennsylvania, on January 1, 1920, he learnt to fly on his brother's Piper Cub before enlisting in the United States Army Air Forces, flying the Douglas C-47 over the "hump".
After his discharge in 1942, he became a test pilot for Curtiss-Wright, piloting C-46s, P-40 Warhawks as well as the XP-55 Ascender, his first experience on a flying wing. After a brief interlude as a commercial and race plane pilot and Bell rocket engineer, he went on to test North American planes F-86 Sabre, B-45 Tornado, AJ-1 Savage and T-28 Trojan before being selected to work on the Bell Aircraft X-5, X-1D, X-1A and X-2.
Jean Leroy Ziegler completed the first unpowered glide flight of an X-2 at Edwards Air Force Base on 27 June 1952.
Death[]
On May 12, 1953, during a captive-carry flight test over Lake Ontario, X-2, serial number 46-675 suddenly exploded, killing Bell test pilot Jean Ziegler and observer aboard the EB-50A mothership, which managed to land, although damaged, while the X-2 remains fell in the lake. Neither his body, nor Wolko's or the X-2 wreckage were ever retrieved.
Only after several other mysterious X-plane losses was the cause found to be a rocket engine gasket made of Ulmer leather, which decomposed and became explosively unstable after sustained exposure to liquid oxygen.
References[]
Bibliography[]
- Peter E., Davies (2017). Bell X-2. X Planes. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. p. 42.
External links[]
- Astronautix. Ziegler test flight chronology
- This day in aviation. Jean Leroy Ziegler 27 June 1952 and 12 May 1953 flights
- 1920 births
- 1953 deaths
- American test pilots
- Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States
- Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1953
- United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II
- Aviation biography stubs