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15/05/2023 12:58 pm
The early '50s saw an obsession with the military speed and power in fighter aircraft and it was all about Mach numbers. The Bell X-1 exceeded Mach 1 in 1947, but the Korean War saw only subsonic jets. In 1953, the Air Force unveiled the first of their "Century Series" of fighters, the F-100 Super Sabre that could do almost 900 mph in level flight. In 1954, GM seemed to celebrate this new age this their turbine powered Firebird 1 that could do everything but fly for the Air Force. Its bullet nose, stubby, sweptback wings and tall vertical stabilizer, it mimicked the developing delta wing fighters still on the drawing board. The design was done in collaboration with Cal Tech and their wind tunnel. Charles L McCuen who ran GM's Research Laboratories Division, designed and built the "Whirlfire Turbo-Power" engine that produced a decent 370 hp at 13,000 rpm. The body is fiberglass reinforced plastic and, although never wrung out completely has an estimated top speed of 200mph. I grew up with a keen interest in militaria religiously watching "Victory at Sea" with my Naval vet dad, and a series called "The Big Picture" (1951-1964) that showcased advances in hardware from the mightiest bombers to the atomic cannon lobbing nuclear shells. So, obviously, this Firebird 1 was the car I wanted in my driveway.
15/05/2023 1:06 pm
I understood why it was built but WAY TOO crazy-plane-like for me. I like the look of GM's Firebird II much better.
Steve Jacobs reacted
Topic starter
15/05/2023 1:29 pm
@chris I was 8 years old in 1954; so at that age, you can imagine how cool I thought it looked.
Steve Jacobs and Christopher Moroni reacted
15/05/2023 7:49 pm
It is an astounding dream car from GM and it sure looks like it is ready to take off. What company did this model and is it a 1/18 resin or diecast ?
Rich Sufficool reacted
16/05/2023 8:34 am
Great writeup Rich. Chuck Yeager was the pilot of the Bell X-1. Since no one had ever gone the speed pf sound there was great speculation as to what would happen including if it might blow up. Yeager was quite the dare devil when it came to being the first to pilot many many experimental aircraft.
Marty Johnson and Steve Jacobs reacted
Topic starter
16/05/2023 10:55 am
@bob-jackman Yeah, finalizing a design that would survive the shock wave at mach 1 took a few lives to work out,
17/05/2023 1:17 pm
I remember Victory at Sea, even watched the reruns. The Nike site sign brings back memories of seeing one in Chicago along Lake Michigan.
Ed Davis
Inverness, Illinois, USA
17/05/2023 3:51 pm
Yes, I also used to watch Victory At Sea back then as a kid every Sunday. I still have the original soundtrack album with the NBC Symphony Orchestra ..... really good documentary stuff, as was The Twentieth Century with Walter Cronkrite. It is hard to believe jets and breaking the sound barrier were rather new and manned spaceflight was yet to happen.