Midweek Sortie 03: What Made Frank ‘Pete’ Everest the Fastest Man Alive?

Ever hear of Frank “Pete” Everest? He wasn’t just a combat pilot and WWII POW—he was the test ace who wrangled X-planes near Mach 3, grabbed the title “fastest man alive,” and kept on flying.

“Things happen so darned fast! It’s just hanging on and trying to do the best you can.”

— Everest, on high-speed test flying.

Chasing the Edge with Frank “Speedy Pete” Everest

There’s a moment early in Frank Everest’s story that tells you exactly what kind of man he was. Picture a kid from Fairmont, West Virginia—barely old enough to vote—sitting in the cockpit of a P-40 over North Africa, dust and tracer fire swirling as he pushes forward into his very first combat missions. Most pilots spend years building up to that kind of pressure. Everest met it head-on, and then he just kept going.

Those early sorties carved him into the kind of aviator who could survive being shot down in the CBI theater, endure torture in a Japanese POW camp, and still return home ready for his next challenge. And that next challenge? Becoming the test pilot who would strap into the wildest experimental aircraft America had ever built.

Major Frank Kendall Everest Jr with the Bell X-2 (USAF)

What happens between those two chapters—combat grit and rocket-plane glory—is one of the most remarkable journeys in aviation history.

Paid members can continue reading to follow Everest from P-40 dogfights to X-2 rocket runs, discover how he earned the title fastest man alive, and see why his legacy still shapes the sky today.