The High-Speed Track that Tests Jet Propulsion, Pilot Ejection

By Master Sgt. Brian Ferguson,Airman Magazine

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There are very few missions requiring years of planning and preparation, only to be accomplished in less than six seconds. There are even fewer facilities where such a mission can take place. The Holloman High-Speed Test Track, operated by the 846th Test Squadron, is one facility that enables test scientists and engineers to meet both of the above criteria. The test track is a 10-mile long, precision-aligned track that provides scientists and engineers a platform from which to conduct their various missions. Tests on the track provide valid data on problems which cannot be solved by other ground test means. (Video // Pete Ising)

Dr. John Paul Stapp earned the title “the fastest man on Earth” when he rode the Sonic Wind I rocket-propelled sled at the Holloman High Speed Test Track at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, on December 10, 1954, to a land speed record of 632 mph in five seconds.

He sustained the greatest recorded G-forces endured by man, decelerating in 1.4 seconds, which equaled 46.2 Gs, more than anyone had previously undergone.

ENLARGE
Col. John Paul Stapp rides the rocket sled at Edwards Air Force Base.PHOTO // U.S. AIR FORCE

When he was pulled from the sled, Stapp’s eyes flooded with blood from bursting almost all their capillaries. Stapp was rushed to the hospital, worried that one or both of his retinas had detached and would leave him blind. By the next day, he had regained enough of his normal vision to be released, though his eyesight would never be the same.

More than 50 years later, the Holloman High Speed Test Track at Holloman still exists, but its riders have changed. Stapp was the last human to ride the track and now egress missions use highly instrumented mannequins to look at what loads are and then determine whether or not aircrew survivability was achieved.