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Jack Woolams attended the University of Chicago for two years before joining the Army Air Corps. He served on active duty for approximately eighteen months, after which he returned to the University of Chicago and graduated with a degree in economics in June 1941. Woolams joined Bell Aircraft later that month and was soon transferred from the test flight division to the experimental research division. In September 1942, he became the first person to fly a fighter aircraft coast to coast over the United States without stopping. On December 15, 1943, he set a new unofficial altitude record of 47,600 feet in the YP-59A Airacomet. He became chief test pilot for Bell in 1944, and was the first to fly the X-1 and the only one to pilot the plane at the Pinecastle facility in Orlando, Florida. Woolams' promising career ended abruptly, however, when he was killed during a practice flight for a race that was to occur the next day. Day and month of birth unknown.
Bell flight 1. First glide flight of AAF-NACA XS-1 rocket research airplane (No.1 of the original three X-1's built), by Jack Woolams, Bell Aircraft test pilot, at Pinecastle Army Air Base, Fla.
Bell flight 2. At Pinecastle AAF, Florida.
Bell flight 3. At Pinecastle AAF, Florida.
Bell flight 4. Gear retracted, left wing damaged. At Pinecastle AAF, Florida.
Bell flight 5. Nosewheel retracted on landing runout. Landing-gear door damaged. At Pinecastle AAF, Florida.
Bell flight 6. Static directional stability investigation. At Pinecastle AAF, Florida.
Bell flight 7. Longitudinal and directional stability investigation. At Pinecastle AAF, Florida.
Bell flight 8. Dynamic stability check. At Pinecastle AAF, Florida.
Bell flight 9. Rate of roll investigation. At Pinecastle AAF, Florida.
Bell flight 10. Static longitudinal stability investigation. At Pinecastle AAF, Florida.