{{Short description|American test pilot (1924–1956)}} {{Infobox military person | name = Milburn Grant Apt | image = Captain Mel Apt in Bell X-2 1956.jpg | caption = Captain Mel Apt in the cockpit of the Bell X-2 | birth_date = {{Birth date|1924|04|09}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1956|09|27|1924|04|09}} | burial_label = | burial_place = | birth_place = Buffalo, Kansas, U.S. | death_place = Edwards Air Force Base, California, U.S. | burial_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} --> | nickname = Mel | allegiance = United States of America | branch = United States Air Force | service_years = 1941&ndash;1956 | rank = Captain | unit = | commands = | battles = | awards = {{plainlist| *Soldier's Medal *Distinguished Flying Cross}} | relations = Sharman Apt Russell (daughter) | other_work = }} '''Milburn Grant "Mel" Apt'''<ref>{{Citation |title=WWII Draft Registration Cards for Kansas, 10/16/1940–03/31/1947 |date=1942 |place=St. Louis, Missouri |publisher=The National Archives in St. Louis, Missouri}}</ref> (April 9, 1924 – September 27, 1956) was a U.S. Air Force test pilot, and the first man to attain speeds faster than Mach 3.<ref name="Times2">{{Cite news |date=1956-10-18 |title=New Air Mark Seen; X-2 Believed to Have Gone 2,200 M.P.H. Before Crash |language=en |newspaper=The New York Times |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1956/10/18/84742727.html?zoom=14.97 |access-date=2021-05-11}}</ref> He was killed after separating from the Bell X-2 in his escape capsule during the record-setting flight that exceeded Mach 3.<ref name="Times">{{Cite news |date=1956-09-28 |title=1,900-M.P.H. Rocket Plane Crashes and Kills Test Pilot |language=en |edition=Late City |volume=106 |page=1 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1956/09/28/86699646.html?zoom=16.06 |access-date=2021-05-11}}</ref> Shortly afterwards, Secretary of the Air Force Donald A. Quarles commended Apt, saying he was "flying faster than any human being has been known to fly."<ref name="Troy">{{Cite news |title=Captain Apt Flew Fastest Before Crash |page=11 |newspaper=The Times Record |location=Troy, New York |publication-date=1956-10-10}}</ref>

==Early career== Apt was born April 9, 1924, in Buffalo, Kansas. He graduated from Buffalo High School in 1942. He joined the U.S. Army Air Forces immediately, was sent to flight school, and was commissioned in February 1944. He served with the Caribbean Defense Command until June 1946. In 1951 he received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Kansas as well as a bachelor's degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology. He graduated from the Experimental Flight Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base (Class 54B) in September 1954.<ref>{{cite web |title=Starbuster: 55 years ago Capt. Mel Apt conquered Mach 3, lost life on fated flight |url=https://www.edwards.af.mil/News/story_print/id/123274801/ |last=Merlin |first=Peter W. |date=October 5, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304041345/http://www.edwards.af.mil/news/story_print.asp?id=123274801 |archive-date=March 4, 2016}}</ref>

==Test pilot== ===Rescue operation=== Before piloting the X-2 himself, Apt flew chase planes for other test flights. ''LIFE'' magazine reported an incident on December 22, 1954, in which Apt rescued Capt. Richard J. Harrer from a Lockheed F-94 Starfire airplane.<ref name="LIFE">{{Cite magazine |last=Wallace |first=Robert |date=1956-06-18 |title=10,000 Men to a Plane |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-0gEAAAAMBAJ&q=milburn&pg=PA67 |magazine=LIFE |language=en |publisher=Time Inc |pages=67–82}}</ref> Harrer's plane had crashed and was on fire. Apt managed to pull Harrer from the wreckage and for his heroism was awarded the Soldier's Medal.

===Record-breaking X-2 flight=== The X-2, initially an Air Force program, was scheduled to be transferred to the civilian National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) for scientific research. The Air Force delayed turning the aircraft over to the NACA in the hope of attaining Mach 3. The service requested and received a two-month extension to qualify another Air Force test pilot, Apt, in the X-2, and attempt to exceed Mach 3.<ref name="Gibbs">{{Cite web |last=Gibbs |first=Yvonne |date=2015-08-12 |title=NASA Dryden Fact Sheets – Bell X-2 Starbuster |url=http://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/news/FactSheets/FS-079-DFRC.html |access-date=2021-05-13 |website=NASA |language=en}}</ref>

On September 27, 1956, Apt made his first and only X-2 flight. The rocket-powered X-2 was launched from a B-50 bomber over the Mojave Desert in California on its 13th powered flight. Apt piloted it to a record speed of {{convert|3377|km|mi|abbr=on}} per hour, or Mach 3.196 at {{convert|19977|m|ft|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Captain Iven C. Kincheloe Jr. |url=https://www.af.mil/News/Photos/igphoto/2000594805/ |access-date=2021-05-08 |website=www.af.mil |language=en-US}}</ref> Subsequent loss of control from inertia coupling led to the plane's fatal crash.<ref name="Day" />

thumb|right|upright=1|NACA report of X-2-1 flights 12 and 13 In the run-up to his first rocket-plane flight, Apt had several ground briefings in the simulator. His simulator training had indicated control difficulties in high-speed flight, and possible techniques for handling them. He launched from the B-50, quickly outdistancing the F-100 chase planes. At high altitude, he nosed over, accelerating rapidly. At {{convert|19977|m|ft|abbr=on}}, the X-2 reached Mach 3.196, making Apt the first man to fly more than three times the speed of sound. Upon rocket burnout, Apt found himself farther from home than anticipated. The planned flight profile called for slowing to Mach 2.4 before turning back to base. The additional time to slow before turning may have put him beyond safe gliding range of his planned runway.<ref> {{citation | title = Black Magic and Gremlins; Analog Flight Simulations at NASA's Flight Research Center | first = Gene L. |last = Waltman | series = Monographs in Aerospace History | volume = 20 | year = 2000 | publisher = NASA History Division | id = SP-2000-4520 | page = 138 | url = http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/pdf/88787main_Black_Magic.pdf | isbn = 978-0-16-059277-5 | oclc = 44869092 }}</ref>

Still above Mach 3, he turned back to Edwards. The X-2 began a series of diverging rolls and tumbled out of control. Apt tried to regain control of the aircraft. Unable to do so, he separated the escape capsule. The capsule's drogue parachute opened, but not its larger parachute. Too late, Apt attempted to bail out and was killed when the capsule hit the Edwards bombing range.<ref name="Times" /><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.airforcemag.com/article/0357last/ |last=Blair |first=Clay Jr. |author-link=Clay Blair |title=The Last Flight of the X-2 |journal=Air Force Magazine |date=March 1, 1957 |volume=40 |issue=3 |access-date=June 7, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Friedlander |first1=Mark P. Jr. |last2=Gurney |first2=Gene |title=Higher, Faster, and Farther |year=1973 |location=New York |publisher=William Morrow & Company |pages=63–65 |isbn=0-688-00204-8}}</ref> According to ''The New York Times'' reporting on the event, Lieut. Col. Frank Kendall Everest Jr., an experienced X-2 pilot, had been critical of the relatively new detachable cabin: "Colonel Everest told reporters in Buffalo that a pilot using the detachable device would be thrown against the instrument panel with terrific force when the parachute braked it. He said some safety had been sacrificed in preference to delaying the X-2 flight tests while the escape mechanism was modified."<ref name="Times" />

The rest of the X-2 crashed unmanned five miles away.<ref name="Day">{{Cite report |url=https://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/pdf/88484main_H-2106.pdf |title=Coupling Dynamics in Aircraft: A Historical Perspective |last=Day |first=Richard E. |year=1997 |publisher=NASA |pages=8–15 |access-date=2021-05-10 |archive-date=2020-11-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111191223/https://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/pdf/88484main_H-2106.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:Dfc-usa.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.4|alt=Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)|Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)]]On March 21, 1957, Apt was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, which is given to those who have distinguished themselves "by valor, heroism, or extraordinary achievement."<ref name=medal>{{Cite news |date=1957-03-21 |title=Pilot Gets Posthumous Award |language=en |page=13 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1957/03/21/86701181.html?zoom=16.55&pageNumber=13 |access-date=2021-05-10}}</ref><ref name="DSFC">{{cite web |url=https://tioh.army.mil/Catalog/Heraldry.aspx?HeraldryId=15249&CategoryId=3&grp=4&menu=Decorations%20and%20Medals&ps=24&p=0 |title=Distinguished Flying Cross |publisher=The Institute of Heraldry: Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army |access-date=2021-05-10}}</ref><ref name="Regulation">{{Cite web |title=Army Regulation 600–8–22: Military Awards |url=https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/pdf/web/ARN18147_R600_8_22_admin2_FINAL.pdf |access-date=2021-05-10 |website=Army Publishing Directorate}}</ref> Prospective X-15 pilots were subsequently shown the on-board film of Apt's fatal crash, taken by a stop-frame camera mounted behind him in the cockpit.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wolfe |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Wolfe |title-link=The Right Stuff (book) |title=The Right Stuff |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |location=New York |year=1979 |isbn=0-374-25032-4 |lccn=79-13901 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/rightstuff00tomw/page/202 202–203]}}</ref>

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===Apt and the X-2 he flew (#46-674)=== <gallery mode="packed" heights=200px> File:Mel Apt with X-2.jpg|alt=Apt stands beside the X-2 (46-674).|Apt stands beside the X-2. File:X-2 pilots.jpg|alt=X-2 pilots Capt. Milburn "Mel" Apt and Capt. Iven Kincheloe flank Col. Horace Hanes, AFFTC flight test director|X-2 pilots Capts. Apt and Kincheloe flank Col. Horace Hanes, AFFTC flight test director (1956). File:X-2 pilots, Capts. Iven Kincheloe and Mel Apt.jpg|alt=X-2 pilots Capt. Milburn "Mel" Apt and Capt. Iven Kincheloe.|Apt (in cockpit) and Kincheloe. File:X-2 on ramp with B-50 mothership and support crew.jpg|alt=The X-2 (46-674) at Edwards Air Force Base.|The X-2 at Edwards Air Force Base, surrounded by the B-50 launch aircraft, chase planes, and support crew. File:X-2 After Drop from B-50 Mothership - GPN-2000-000396.jpg|alt=The X-2 (46-674) drops from its B-50 launch aircraft.|The X-2 drops from its B-50 launch aircraft. File:X-2 in flight.jpg|alt=The X-2 (46-674) in-flight (circa 1956).|The X-2 in-flight. File:Bell X-2 Number 1 (674) in flight over Southern California.jpg|alt=The X-2 (46-674) in-flight.|The X-2 in-flight. File:Bell X-2 Number 1 (674) Landing with Skids Deployed.jpg|alt=The X-2 (46-674) inflight, with skids deployed for landing.|The X-2 inflight, with skids deployed for landing. File:X-2 Accident 03 adjusted.jpg|alt=Crash site in the desert near Edwards Air Force Base.|Crash site in the desert near Edwards Air Force Base. File:X-2 Accident 8201.jpg|alt=Two pieces of the X-2 at the crash site.|Two pieces of the X-2 at the crash site, five miles from where the escape capsule landed. File:X-2 Accident 8181.jpg|alt=The X-2's escape capsule at the crash site.|The X-2's escape capsule at the crash site. File:X-2 Accident 8189.jpg|alt=The cockpit of the X-2's escape capsule at the crash site.|The cockpit of the X-2's escape capsule at the crash site. File:X-2 Wreckage (E56-2685) (cropped).jpg|alt=Wreckage from Apt's fatal crash in the X-2 (46-674).|Wreckage from Apt's fatal crash in the X-2. </gallery>

==Personal life== Apt was survived by his wife and two daughters{{--}}aged two and six.<ref name="Times" /> One of Apt's daughters, Sharman Apt Russell, grew up to become a writer.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Russell |first=Sharman Apt |author-link=Sharman Apt Russell |title=Letter to My Father Concerning the State of the World |url=http://www.terrain.org/essays/23/russell.htm |journal=Terrain.org |issue=23 |date=Winter–Spring 2009 |issn=1932-9474 |access-date=June 7, 2025}}</ref> She wrote about the significance of his death in an essay in her book, ''Songs of the Fluteplayer''.<ref name="Russell">{{Cite book |last=Russell |first=Sharman Apt |title=Songs of the Fluteplayer: Seasons of Life in the Southwest |year=1991 |publisher=Addison-Wesley |isbn=0-201-57093-9 |location=Reading, Massachusetts |oclc=22661202}}</ref> {{clear}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== *{{Citation |last=Anderson |first=John |title=X-15: The World's Fastest Rocket Plane and the Pilots Who Ushered in the Space Age |date=2014 |place=Minneapolis [Minnesota] |isbn=978-0-7603-4445-3 |oclc=827257244 }} *{{Citation |last=Day |first=Richard E. |title=Coupling Dynamics in Aircraft: A Historical Perspective |url=https://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/pdf/88484main_H-2106.pdf |year=1997 |publisher=NASA |access-date=2019-10-30 |archive-date=2020-11-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111191223/https://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/pdf/88484main_H-2106.pdf |url-status=dead }} *{{Citation |last=Davies |first=Peter E. |title=Bell X-2. |date=2017 |place=London |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing Plc |isbn=978-1-4728-1959-8 |oclc=1021807198 }} *{{Citation |last=Hallion |first=Richard P. |title=On the Frontier: Flight Research at Dryden, 1946–1981 |url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4303.pdf |pages=87–98 |year=1984 |publication-place=Washington, DC |publisher=NASA}} *{{Citation |last=Jenkins |first=Dennis R. |title=Hypersonics Before the Shuttle: A Concise History of the X-15 Research Airplane |year=2000 |publication-place=Washington, DC |publisher=NASA}} *{{Citation |last1=Merlin |first1=Peter W. |title=X-plane Crashes |date=2008 |place=North Branch, MN |publisher=Specialty Press |isbn=978-1-58007-121-5 |oclc=213447807 |last2=Moore |first2=Tony}} *{{Citation |last=Miller |first=Jay |title=The X-planes: X-1 to X-45 |date=2001 |edition=3rd |place=Hinckley [England] |publisher=Midland Pub |isbn=1-85780-109-1 |oclc=47726721 }} *{{Citation |last=Van Pelt |first=Michel |title=Rocketing into the Future: The History and Technology of Rocket Planes |date=2012 |place=New York |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4614-3200-5 |oclc=795707071 }}

==External links== {{Commons category}} *{{Cite web |title=Capt. Mel Apt Memorial, X-2 Crash Site |url=https://www.bellx-2.com/sightings/mel-apt-memorial.html |access-date=2021-05-12 |website=www.bellx-2.com}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Apt, Milburn G.}} Category:1924 births Category:1956 deaths Category:Accidental deaths in California Category:Air Force Institute of Technology alumni Category:American aviation record holders Category:American test pilots Category:Aviators from Kansas Category:Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Category:Military personnel from Kansas Category:People from Wilson County, Kansas Category:United States Air Force officers Category:United States Army Air Forces officers Category:United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Category:U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School alumni Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1956 Category:Victims of flight test accidents