After Hiroshima, the ability to deliver a nuclear device to target faster than one's enemy became the singular obsession of American war planners. Speed. In 1947, it represented the difference between victory and annihilation. And so, in the earliest days of the Cold War, a highly classified program was conducted on a desolate air base in California's Mojave Desert. Its aim: to push the envelope of flight to new frontiers. There gathered an extraordinary band of pilots-including Second World War aces Chuck Yeager and George Welch-who risked their lives flying experimental aircraft to reach Mach 1, the so-called sound barrier, which pilots nicknamed "the demon." Shrouding the program in secrecy, the US military only reluctantly revealed the "barrier" had been broken two months after the fact because the story was leaked to the press. To this day, the full truth has never been revealed-until now. CHASING THE DEMON: A Secret History of the Quest for the Sound Barrier, and the Band of American Aces Who Conquered It (on-sale July 24, 2018), from decorated fighter pilot and acclaimed aviation historian Dan Hampton, tells, for the first time, the extraordinary true story of the mankind's quest for Mach 1. Illuminating and insightful, key revelations and highlights from the book include:
- Was aviation legend Chuck Yeager REALLY the first man to break the sound barrier? Captain Chuck Yeager made history flying the futuristic Bell X-1 faster than the speed of sound on October 14, 1947. But based on interviews with Yeager's former commander and a trove of declassified documents, Hampton presents new evidence that fellow American George Welch (like Yeager, a WWII ace) very possibly beat Yeager to Mach 1 by two weeks.
- The top-secret story of the Mach 1 program and nuclear war. In 1947, two years after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima launched the nuclear age, the quest for speed was of paramount strategic importance to American war planners as they entered the earliest days of the Cold War-i.e. whoever could get over target first with "nukes" held the "high ground." The X-1 program was classified as top secret, and even today, little is known of it-until now.
- Meeting the band of extraordinary aces who pushed the limits over the skies of the Mojave. This was also a human story featuring an unforgettable, but-with the exception of Yeager-all but unknown cast of characters. The Air Force gathered their best of the best to Muroc Air Base in the Mojave Desert to push the limits of human achievement. Here was George Welch for example, one of two American pilots who got airborne at Pearl Harbor and who later shot down a total of 16 enemy aircraft during the Pacific War. Hampton brings these characters, along with the stories of several more legendary aces, to life.
- Revelations that draw on exclusive new eyewitness interviews and newly declassified files. Hampton has interviewed Ken Chilstrom, World War II combat fighter pilot and Yeager's superior officer, for the book. Chilstrom is 97 years old and has never publicly spoken in depth about the program until now. Hampton also obtained copies of all George Welch's original test reports, noting several unusual discrepancies.
Written by "one of the most decorated pilots in Air Force history" (New York Post), and the New York Times bestselling author of Viper Pilot, Lords of the Sky, The Hunter Killers, and The Flight, Hampton brings unique personal experience to this narrative. Able to penetrate the secretive and reticent world of the fighter pilot, Hampton has uncovered a story never fully explained until now with CHASING THE DEMON.
"Chasing the Demon flows very smoothly and tells a great story about the pioneers of highspeed flight, primarily from the pilots' perspective. Whether you are a pilot, engineer, or an aviation-history enthusiast, reading Dan Hampton's book is time well spent."- JOHN D. ANDERSON JR., Curator of Aerodynamics at the National Air & Space Museum
Illustrated with thirty-five photographs, CHASING THE DEMON recalls this period of the emerging Cold War and the brave adventurers pursuing the final frontier in aviation. William Morrow is excited to publish this thrilling narrative this summer.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-view-from-the-writing-instrument--1023245/support.