The Lonely Sky: The Personal Story of America's Pioneering Experimental Test Pilot

If there were 10 stars I would rate it that highlyThe subject of the book and his personal journey from WW2 pilot to his unusual and pioneering move into test piloting the most advanced and fastest aircraft in the world is interesting enough, but the writers style and almost spiritual insight into the outward bravery and innermost doubts, let alone outright fear he experiences are masterful and unparalleled.This is not just another book about flight testing in a time of incredible advances it is one of the best written books I have read

Bill Bridgeman's excellent memoir, written with his wife-to-be Jacqueline Hazard, stands as a superb account of one guy being placed squarely at the center of a massive aviation undertaking. And he finds, somewhat to his surprise, that he's up to the task even in its scariest moments.High-performance airplanes are especially good at throwing pilots into unexpected situations literally in a heartbeat. Anyone not ready to cope is the first to arrive at the crash-site. Bill Bridgeman was an experienced Navy pilot who'd worked into engineering test-flight after World War Two, and took up the challenges of supersonic flight with the US Navy's Douglas Skyrocket. He vividly recounts his first ride in a Lockheed F-80 jet fighter---and how a moment's exuberance put him in an out-of-control dive with sonic shock waves violently hammering at the airframe.He learned quickly, and of necessity, how to stay alive in this completely new realm. His portraits of people are just as rich as his edgy account of flying a touchy supersonic blowtorch full of explosive propellants. Chuck Yeager was Bill's frequent 'chase' pilot, and quickly became a valued companion even though they only occasionally met on the ground. He also encountered aviatrix and bar-owner 'Poncho' Barnes, whose Happy Bottom Riding Club gave flight crews a needed place to blow off steam.In the wake of the Skyrocket's successes, Bridgeman encountered the odd, empty sensation of meeting an extraordinary goal and trying to determine where to go from there. In his case, it was flying with the Douglas X-3 program. Eventually, it would be to write this book. This edition features some typographical problems, but they don't seriously detract from the work's essential excellence. Highly recommended.

Lost my original hard bound book over the years (I'm 75 now) that was actually personally autographed by Bill Bridgeman (knew him in southern California) and wanted to have at least this book for remembrance. He should have been the first man to break the sound barrier but "politics" had a lot to do with it in pushing the Bell X1 to do it instead....not many even know this.

The book is written in 1955. And you shouldn't believe it.The writing flows masterly, both over paragarphs and pages.There is nothing of the old-fashioned "writing-for-both-genders" (i.e. the perceived American housewife in the fithies), nor any cramped attempts to write a broader, wider story about the pilots personal voyage on a deeper level... You don't need to sit through hundred pages about the pilot's family life. (As in  Always Another Dawn , or the author's endless attempts to pester the pilot's wife with an interview  X-15 Diary: The Story of America's First Space Ship .)And the history aspect: Just snuggled in between the stories of X-1 and X-15, when you counted the Mach numbers as 0.91, 0.92, 0.93 the sound barrier still was something, and Chuck Yeager came up to fly chase for you. --- Plus some lesser known WWII stuff.And as opposed to the 6 inch wide 2009 version: This older 4.2 inch wide version easily goes into a full backpack, down in a pocket, and is flawlessly read held in one hand.

I grew up (67) hearing, reading about and occasionally seeing newsreels of the exploits described. Bridgeman puts the very personal background to them superbly.No blood, guts and glory, just the steady professional slog working at the edge of the then known universe.I have spent my working life in aviation routinely trundling around at the altitude and speeds only dreamt of by these guys.Bridgeman puts this in its proper perspective. Oh that we could have shared a coffee and chat.

Great book for those that can relate to aviation.

This book was in the library in the small town I grew up in. I must have read it hundreds of times. I suppose most people have heard of Chuck Yeager and the sound barrier. But I doubt if many have heard of the Douglas Skyrocket. the Skyrocket followed the Bell X1 and was a the first to investigate higher mach numbers. This book is beautifully ghost written and a gripping account of those early days.

This isn't the greatest aerospace book I have read, but it's pretty good (and I've read just about all of them). I didn't know much about Bill Bridgeman before I read this, and he didn't follow the path I had expected. Interesting !

I approached this book with a keen interest in early supersonic flight. However, this book was not enjoyable although the subject was tempting. It is spoiled by numerous single-sentence paragraphs that break the flow, incomprehensible American jargon and wasted white space at the start of each chapter. There are also spelling mistakes.For the real experience read 'The Right Stuff' by Tom Wolfe.

This must be one of the best factual aviation books ever written. The Co author was his wife. A story within all the facts. A delight to read. I bought this to go on my bookshelf as my old original copy was a bit battered

Interesting but a few text errors.Worth a read.

The account of one test pilot's experiences of taking early rocket aircraft through the speed of sound; sometimes hindered by politics. Very readable.

Das Buch schließt eine Lücke in der spannenden Geschichte der Erforschung des Überschallfluges. Packend geschrieben, gepaart mit fliegerischem Einfühlungsvermögen fühlt man sich in das Cockpit des Experimentaljets versetzt. Mich hat jede Seite begeistert, weil es der Autorin in einer einmaligen Art und Weise gelungen ist, die Herausforderungen an den einsamen Testpiloten in seinem engen Cockpit bei seinen Testflügen ins Unbekannte darzustellen. Ich kann diese Buch jedem Luftfahrtbegeisterten empfehlen.