First flight of the Convair F-106B at Edwards AFB on 10th April 1958 by John Fitzpatrick
As an Air Force Pilot, John Fitzpatrick flew the XF-88B Evaluation flights at Lambert Field,MO June-July 1953. He is the only person to have flown supersonic in a propeller 'equipped' aircraft . John Fitzpatrick flew the first Mach 2 flight of the Convair F-106B.
John Fitzpatrick crash landed this F-84E on the Alcan Highway in the Yukon Territory after an engine failure enroute to Alaska for cold weather tests in January 1950. The temperature was 53 degrees below zero F.
John M. 'Fitz' Fitzpatrick was born on the 12th January 1924 in New York. He graduated from West Point with wings in June 1945. Between 1946 through to June 1948, he flew P-47 Thunderbolts in Germany.
In 1948, he went to the Wright-Patterson AFB as an Experimental Test Pilot within the fighter section, where he stayed for the next 5 years. He then joined Convair as an Engineering Test Pilot,becoming Chief Engineering Test Pilot in 1959.
He made the first flights on three aircraft:- Convair F-106B, Convair F-106C and Convair 990 Coronado.
He has served in various management positions until his retirement in 1989. John Fitzpatrick was one of the original 6 pilots at the first meeting of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots on 14 September 1955.
