Harold E . Comstock Harold Elwood “ Bunny ” Comstock ( 20 December 1920 – 3 April 2009 ) was a World War II fighter ace in the 56th Fighter Group and a career fighter pilot in the United States Air Force . After a test flight of the Republic P - 47 Thunderbolt on 13 November 1942 , Republic Aviation issued a press release on 1 December 1942 , claiming that he and fellow pilot , Lt . Roger Dyar had exceeded the speed of sound . Early life . Harold Comstock was the eldest son of Clinton E . Comstock and Millie L . Daw . He was an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America and started flying at fifteen . After graduation from Theodore Roosevelt High School ( Fresno ) , he attended Fresno State College for two years to complete the requirements to apply to the United States Army Air Corps . On 1 October 1941 , Comstock was ordered to report to Kelly Field , Texas for aviation cadet training . Aviation career . Comstock then attended primary flying school at Sikeston , Missouri , basic flying school at Randolph AFB and he graduated from advanced flying school at Foster Field , Texas on 3 July 1942 . He received his commission and pilot wings and then returned to Fresno , California to marry Barbara L . Joint . Comstock reported for duty with the 56th Fighter Group at Bridgeport , Connecticut on 20 July 1942 . His wife gave him the nickname “ Bunny Nose ” and when the other pilots found out , the nickname of “ Bunny ” stayed with him . The Dive . Because of the need to manufacture combat aircraft quickly and the close proximity to the Republic Aviation factory , active duty pilots were used for some of the test flights of the new P - 47 . On 13 November 1942 , Lts . Comstock and Dyar were ordered to test a new type of radio antenna on the P - 47C . Lt . Comstock climbed to an indicated altitude of 49 , 600 feet ( 15 , 118 meters ) while trying to reach 50 , 000 feet . Due to poor response from the controls , he decided to let the aircraft fall off rather than risk a spin . He started to dive straight down and after passing below 40 , 000 feet he found that his controls had frozen . Comstock then felt a bump and was unable to move the controls as the aircraft continued to dive . Even with maximum exertion , he was unable to move the control stick so he started to roll the trim tab back and after passing below 30 , 000 feet , the aircraft started to pull out of the dive and he recovered between 20 , 000 and 25 , 000 feet . Lt . Dyar started his dive and encountered the same conditions . After landing , Comstock reported what happened and the chief designer of the P - 47 Thunderbolt , Alexander Kartveli , questioned Lt . Comstock at length and made numerous calculations . Republic Aviation soon issued a press release claiming that Lts . Comstock and Dyar had exceeded the speed of sound . This was picked up in the national media and also drawn in " Ripley ' s Believe It or Not ! " Soon after the press release , the 56th Fighter Group received a telegram from Gen . Henry “ Hap ” Arnold that “ there would be no more discussion about the dive ” . The actual speed attained was probably less than the speed of sound but this speed which caused the flight controls to lock up was referred to as “ compressibility ” . This effect was encountered by many pilots flying in combat but training and proper procedures allowed them to recover from it . In 1959 , the Air Force published " A Chronology of American Aerospace Events " and included an entry for 15 November 1942 which stated " Lts . Harold Comstock and Roger Dyar set a new speed record for airplanes when they power - dived their P - 47 fighters at 725 mph from 35 , 000 feet over an east coast air base . " While the Air Force acknowledged the speed of 725 miles per hour , it could not confirm whether the P - 47 could actually exceed the speed of sound in a dive . Capt . Roger Dyar was killed in action on 26 June 1943 . In response to the claim of a P - 47 achieving supersonic speeds , Curtiss - Wright test pilot Herbert O . Fisher later observed , “ We knew about Mach 1 going clear back to the P - 36 and the P - 40 . . . Nothing could go 600 mph in level flight , but pilots were beginning to dive fighters . We ran into compressibility back in ’ 38 . ” Using a highly modified P - 47D , from 1947 – 1949 , Fisher carried out 100 high mach number precision dives from 38 , 000 feet at speeds from 500 to 590 miles per hour . Several of these dives resulted in speeds of Mach . 83 , one occurring on October 27 , 1949 , the fastest speeds a P - 47 could attain . World War II . On 6 January 1943 , the 56th Fighter Group sailed for England on the " RMS Queen Elizabeth " , and flew their first operational mission on 13 April 1943 . Lieutenant Comstock was promoted to 1st Lt on 29 May 1943 and achieved his first aerial victory on 17 August 1943 , when he shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 109 . He had additional confirmed victories on 4 October 1943 , and 26 November 1943 . After a long engagement with enemy aircraft on 3 February 1944 , he did not have enough fuel to make it to a runway and was injured in a crash landing near Halesworth , England . He was promoted to Captain on 12 March 1944 and following recovery from his crash landing , Comstock returned to flying combat missions . Comstock returned to the U . S . for 30 days leave in late May following completion of his first combat tour . After he returned to the 56th Fighter Group for a second combat tour , he took command of the 63d Fighter Squadron on 19 July 1944 . Comstock was promoted to Major on 17 September 1944 . In support of Operation Market Garden , Major Comstock led the 56th Fighter Group on a disastrous mission that had been ordered to go “ at all costs ” to provide flak suppression . Numerous anti - aircraft batteries were destroyed and the 56th Fighter Group received a Presidential Unit Citation for this mission but 16 of 39 aircraft were lost and 15 of the returning aircraft were damaged . His last two victories were on 23 December 1944 . After two combat tours and 136 missions , Comstock returned to the U . S . in January , 1945 . Summary of Enemy Aircraft Damaged / Destroyed . Following World War II , Major Comstock had the following assignments : Vietnam . While assigned to Cannon AFB , Lt . Col Comstock commanded the 481st Tactical Fighter Squadron which was deployed to Tan Son Nhut Air Base , Vietnam , in June 1965 . On this tour , Comstock completed 132 combat missions and the squadron flew numerous combat sorties in support of the besieged troops at Plei Me and the Battle of Ia Drang Valley . On 15 November 1965 , Comstock was flying the second of two North American F - 100 Super Sabre s that approached Landing Zone X - Ray with instructions to drop napalm . The napalm from the first aircraft landed too close to American lines and resulted in American casualties . Comstock was about to release his load of napalm on the assigned area when a quick call instructed him to break off . If he had dropped the napalm on the target as instructed , it would have killed Hal Moore , Joe Galloway , Basil Plumley , and numerous other soldiers of the 7th Cavalry . This battle , in the Ia Drang Valley , is detailed in the book and movie " We Were Soldiers Once . . . And Young " . During the spring of 1968 , Comstock had another tour in Vietnam as the 7th ABCCC “ Cricket ” commander and directed numerous missions in support of the Battle of Khe Sanh . Retirement . After retirement , Comstock and his wife , Barbara , returned to Fresno , California and subsequently , built a home in Auberry , California . Comstock took an active interest in genealogy and became a member of the Mayflower Society ; he was also a Freemason and a Shriner . At the age of 88 , Comstock died on 3 April 2009 . Awards and decorations . Command pilot