While many laypeople know that Chuck Yeager was the first pilot to exceed Mach 1 in level flight, far fewer can recall the name of the first man to fly an airplane at twice the speed of sound. That man, Scott Crossfield, had what was undoubtedly one of the most impressive and remarkable careers of any pilot in the 20th century.
Born Albert Scott Crossfield on October 2, 1921, he was raised on a farm in Washington state. By his own assessment a middle-of-the-pack student, Crossfield was nonetheless intensely interested in the goings-on at nearby Chehalis Municipal
