The Wilmington morning star., 1947-08-10
SPEED DEMON
IS MODEST, 40
Half-Bald Col. Boyd Is
Unassuming About
Record
Bv KEN DAVIS

BY KEN DAVIS
DAYTON, O., Aug. 9-P)-Sun-
drv citizens have been siding ur
to 4O-vear-old Col. Albert Boyd
and asking in disbelief:
Are you the feljuw who file"
that let plane 623 miles an hour?'
TIE Colonel, a patient persons.
admits the work record feat. This
brings on the second act.
TIE questioner eyes the spare
Bovd, views with disappointment
the half-bald Boyd Uranium and
comments:
"Aren't you a little old for
that?"
During the war it was rather
common for an unexciting looking
u to unwind a bit Of d~eering-do,
but that apparently did Lille to
disrupt the public fancy that all
heroes come packaged in a youth
full body topped by curly hair.
Particularly in the world OF
speed is youth deemed necessary
by the layman.
Yet. here is a 40-year-old-at a
time of life when most army air
forces colonies trade in their
planes for steel desks - jumping
up from his own busy desk and
plotting a jet : powered Lockheed
POOR or Shooting Star 623.855
miles an hour.
at no time" the Asheville,
N. c.. Colonel said afterwards,
did I feel the job was beyond
my capabilities. If 1 had, l
wouldn't have begun"
One of the reasons advanced for
combining speed records to youth
has 10 do with reaction time, the
split seconds necessary to react
to an emergency.
81 can't see that il makes much
difference" grinned Col. Boyd.
''Flying that P-oO at a speed like
that, you wouldn't have much
chance to monkey with direction"
And, say some people, youth
should always be at the controls
Of fighter planes or speed planes
because they are callow enough to
take chances.
Life must just be beginning for
the Colonel, then. Under %interna-
tional speed rules as set by the
Federation Aeronautique interna-
tional in Paris, ne had the option
of flying any altitude W TO PAS
feet.
Yet, this middle aged colonel,
who in quieter moments is chief
of the air materiel commands
flight test division at Wright field,
elected to herd his belching plane
along at 80 feet above the sands
of Muroc. Calf, army aid base.
But, then, ''Al' Boyd is an old
hand at this speed game and he
has been flying sleek P-8o fighter
planes since they were developed
in the spring of l945.
Flying for the record was just
another Job in a hectic AAF "a
e c and he accepted its dangers
knowingly.
One worried officer dashed up
a. he made ready TO take off, eX-
planning crash trucks and ambu-
lanccs were lined up the length Of
the course.
Don't worry about that the
Colonel advised. If anything hap
pens. there won't be enough left
to warrant ambnlances.'
Eoyd was commissioned a sec
ond lieutenant in 1929 and took his
flight training at March Field,
Calf, and at Kelly and Randolph
fields in Texas.
From 1899 to 1913 he was at
tached to the seventh air force at
Hickam Field. Hawaii. He came
back to the states rs chief Of
maintenance for the air material
command at Wright Field for two
years, then went to Okinawa as
deputy commanding officer of tne
Eighth Air Force Service com
mand.
Having acquired 1000 flying
hours in all types of planes, hit
ting the heavens in search of a
speed mark is to him a scientific
game. Along with certain other
AAF officers he has certain ideas
about remodeling the international
rules for that game.
He said the United States would
recommend that two speed zones
be set up-one at ground level as
now, a second at high altitude.
Also, he believes the approach
run, now limited to 800 meters,
should be extended to 1000 me
tiers allowing a plane to reach a
stabilized speed.
In tn Wright Fild Officers
club Col. Boyd achieved a small
Measure of private fame during
the recent nationwide flying disc
soiree.
1t seems. a week after he recap
tured the worlds speed mark for
the United States, the Colonel
turned to his other leisure = time
love, skeet shooting. He went
down to Texas and Won the AAF
skeet title. Fellow officers tabled
the speed : flying skeet champion
as the man most likely to sue
coed in shooting down a disc.