Unlike most of the authors of the books I've been reading, Hank Searls (b. 1922) is still alive and kicking. I was lucky enough to talk with him briefly and obtain a specially autographed copy of The Big X. He has gone on to write fifteen additional novels as well as two non-fiction books, a couple screenplays, and several television episodes. Before his career as a freelance author, he was a Navy pilot and a writer for two Southern California aircraft manufacturers -- experiences that undoubtedly helped him a voice of authority to The Big X.
The Big X by Hank Searls. Harper and Brothers (1959), 241 pp.
Approaching Mach 6 at 130,000 feet, the X-F18 rocket plane yaws unexpectedly. Test pilot Mitch Westerly manages to land successfully at Edwards Air Force Base in the desert north of Palmdale. At the debriefing project engineer Lou Haskel, worried that test flights won’t be completed by the upcoming deadline, asserts that Westerly himself caused the problem. The pilot claims that additional telemetric equipment was to blame. But Westerly also realizes that he may be letting unprecedented fears hamper his performance. To ease the pressure from his dangerous job, he invites girlfriend Sue Morgan to spend a few days in Palmdale. She agrees, hoping to inform him of her pregnancy. Meanwhile, the public relations man for the aircraft manufacturer sets up a magazine piece on Westerly. Then crack young engineer Ron Eberly finds yet a third possible cause for the X-F18’s instability. The remaining flight tests promise to be even more complicated and contentious.
The Big X offers a fictional account of the early days of the real-life X-15, which made its first flight in the year the book was published. The third-person narrator goes everywhere -- cockpits, offices, bedrooms, and the minds of the characters -- to provide a panoramic picture of the rocket plane in development. The flying scenes are harrowing. The arguments about aerodynamics are comprehensible (and maybe even plausible). But, as might be expected in a plot-driven novel, the many characters mostly just move the story along. They are well defined but not well rounded. Sears writes in a clean and simple style and avoids digressions and unresolved conflicts. Unlike Mitch Westerly, he always has things under control. Fans of aviation fiction are bound to enjoy the book.
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