George Welch (pilot)

George Welch (pilot)

George Welch (May 10, 1918–October 12, 1954) was a World War II flying ace, a Medal of Honor nominee, and an experimental aircraft pilot after the war. Welch is best known for being one of the few United States Army Air Forces fighter pilots able to get airborne to engage Japanese forces in the attack on Pearl Harbor and for his work as a test pilot.

Welch retired from the United States Air Force as a major in 1944, and became a test pilot for North American Aviation, receiving some notoriety for reportedly being the first pilot to exceed Mach 1 in the prototype XP-86 Sabre (two weeks before Chuck Yeager's record flight). Controversy exists as to the actual details of the flight and if this flight took place, it is generally not recognized as a record because of a lack of verifiable speed measurement and because the aircraft's highest speeds were attained while diving, whereas Yeager's X-1 completed the feat in level flight. In 1954, Welch died following a crash in a test flight in a North American F-100 Super Sabre.