The FReeper Foxhole Profiles Captain Sam Walker - Texas Ranger - Dec. 8th, 2003

www.texasranger.org ^

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
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FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

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Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker
(1815 - 1847)

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In the 180-year history of the Texas Rangers, there have been many shining stars, but none glowed any brighter than Samuel Hamilton Walker.

Walker’s years of life were few. He was born in Prince George County, Maryland, in 1815 and was killed in Mexico on October 8, 1847. During those brief 32 years, he packed in 132 years of adventures. Wars, Indian battles, filibusters, and honors were all a part of his life. To top it off, he had one of the most famous pistols in history named after him.

Sam Walker

Very little is known about Walker’s early life. From surviving letters and reports, it appears that he was well educated. In 1832, while still a teenager, Walker ended up in Washington, DC. Four years later, in May 1836, he joined the army.

Over the next two years, he had two tours of duty in the Florida swamps fighting Chief Osceola’s Seminoles. For “exceptional courage” shown in the Battle of Hacheeluski in January 1837, he was promoted to corporal. This may seem a small honor today, but in those early years of army history, it was the norm that promotions could, and usually did, take years.

Walker did his duty until he was mustered out of the Army in 1838. Single and still seeking adventure, he headed back to Florida, where he had a job waiting for him. An old Army buddy, George Gordon Meade of Gettysburg fame, had also left the service and was supervising the construction of the Alabama, Florida, and Georgia Railway. Walker remained in Florida until 1841, when he departed for Texas to become a legend.


They were cruel protectors of their civilization on a cruel frontier. Against daunting odds, small companies of Texas Rangers defeated Comanche warriors, Mexican armies, cattle rustlers and bandits -- even Bonnie and Clyde.

Records indicate that Walker arrived in San Antonio in January 1842. He soon he joined the company of the man most would agree was the greatest Ranger of the post-Civil War era, Captain John Coffee “Jack” Hays.

By 1842, the Texas Revolution was six years into history, but the wounds on both Texas and Mexico were still bare and festering. Several Mexican invasions of Texas had occurred, most notably that by Raphael Vasquez in early March 1842. After plundering and looting San Antonio for two days, Vasquez had retreated to Mexico. Only President Sam Houston’s calm hand prevented a war, but he could not alleviate the ever-growing hatred felt by both sides.

In September of the same year, not even Houston could keep a lid on the situation when the Frenchman Adrian Woll led a Mexican army into Texas and again captured San Antonio. For ten days, Woll infested the city. Houston placed Alexander Somervell at the head of the Texas Army, with two sets of orders to either (1) show restraint or (2) invade Mexico.


John Coffee Hays,
"Captain Jack" of the Texas Rangers

Sam Walker was not about to miss a fight, and he quickly signed on as a scout for Captain Jesse Billingsley. Billingsley’s force joined up with Matthew “Old Paint” Caldwell, where Walker served with Jack Hays and Henry McCulloch. As Woll retreated back to Mexico, the Texans only had a few minor skirmishes with the invaders. The Rangers returned to San Antonio. For the next two months, they reorganized in what would become known as the [Alexander] Somervell Expedition. When they moved, they headed toward Mexico and peacefully reoccupied Laredo. The Texans stayed in Laredo only a short time before moving on down the Rio Grande to the town of Guerrero to resupply.

On December 18, 1842, General Somervell declared the expedition ended and ordered his 498 men back to San Antonio. One hundred eighty-nine of them refused to quit. They elected William Fisher their commander and continued with the invasion of Mexico. Jack Hays did not join them. He warned his comrades to abandon their foolish ideas, but they did not listen. Two of those who disregarded Walker’s request were Sam Walker and W. A. A. “Big Foot” Wallace.

On December 23, the Texans invaded Mier, just south of the Rio Grande. They were unopposed. After demanding and receiving supplies, they returned to the north side of the border. On Christmas Day, some of Fisher’s spies reported that 700 Mexican soldiers were in Mier. This was a fight worthy of the Texans. They re-crossed the river and attacked.



The Rangers were good, but even they couldn’t handle the overwhelming force of this enemy. On the next day, December 26, they were forced to surrender.

Unfortunately, Sam Walker was not one the Texans who surrendered. He had been the first Texan captured in the ill-fated expedition. The day before, he and fellow scout Patrick Lusk had been on a scouting expedition. Walker had come upon some Mexican soldiers and fired. He was attempting to crawl under a fence when a Mexican soldier grabbed him by his foot and held him tight until reinforcements arrived.

What followed would enrage Texans as nothing had since the Alamo and the Fannin Massacre during the Texas Revolution. It was the Lottery of Death. The Texans were marched to prison in Saltillo. On March 1, 1843, Santa Anna ordered all 176 prisoners lined up against a wall and shot. Fortunately, Governor Francisco Mexia refused to commit such an atrocity.

The prisoners were then ordered to San Luis Potosi. By March 25, when they arrived at Rancho Salado, another order had arrived from Santa Anna. He ordered that every tenth man must be shot. This time, there would be no Governor Mexia to stop the murders.



Who would die? One hundred fifty-nine white beans and seventeen black beans were placed in a jar. Each man dug his hand into the jar and brought out a bean. Anyone unfortunate enough to withdraw a black bean died. Walker and Big Foot Wallace both brought out a white bean and where spared. The leader of the Texans, William Fisher, also drew a white bean. However, Santa Anna would not hear of the Texas commander being spared, and he was shot.

For months, Walker and his fellow Texans were summarily beaten and worked, in some cases to death. On July 30, 1843, Walker escaped and managed to get on a ship headed for New Orleans. He arrived there in September.

Walker didn’t stay long in the Crescent City. He wanted to get back to Texas and start settling scores south of the border. He repeated his vows of vengeance so often to his friends that he earned a new nickname, “Mad” Walker.

[SAMWolf]

A Special Gold Star for the Ladies.

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks, and here is one for you SAM!

[Johnny Gage]

Air Power
Bell X-1

The diminutive Bell X-1 rocket research plane was the world's first aircraft to break the "sound barrier" and achieve supersonic flight on Oct. 14, 1947, when "Chuck" Yeager's "Glamorous Glennis" passed Mach 1 on its epic flight. The aircraft's conical nose was modeled on the lines of a .50 caliber bullet. While the X-1 was capable of taking off under its own power, all but one of its flights began with a high-altitude drop from a launch aircraft in order to conserve precious rocket fuel.

During World War II, fighter pilots encountered a new and terrifying phenomenon. Rolling over into steep dives, they accelerated to speeds of 500 mph and into the unknown region of transonic flight (0.7-1.3 Mach) where the effects of compressibility--loss of control and structurally devastating aerodynamic loads--began to take over with often deadly consequences. By war's end, new turbojet engines were under development and they promised even higher speeds--speeds passing through the transonic and even, perhaps, into the supersonic region. So little was known about transonic aerodynamics, however, that many aerodynamicists theorized that drag would reach infinity as an airplane approached the speed of sound. The possible existence of a "sound barrier" was only one of a host of unknowns constituting a very real barrier to flight progress. Aircraft designers could not proceed without valid data and the wind tunnels of the day, which "choked" as the airflow around models reached transonic velocities, provided few answers.

Thus an experimental research airplane--the rocket-powered and bullet-shaped Bell X-1 --was designed and built to acquire the necessary data and to determine whether or not a piloted aircraft could actually penetrate the "sonic wall." The X-1 aircraft were almost 31 feet long and had a wingspan of 28 feet. The X-1 was built of conventional aluminum stressed-skin construction to extremely high structural standards. The X-1E was also 31 feet long but had a wingspan of only 22 feet, 10 inches. It was powered by a Reaction Motors, Inc., XLR-8-RM-5, four-chamber rocket engine. As did all X-1 rocket engines, the LR-8-RM-5 engine did not have throttle capability, but instead, depended on ignition of any one chamber or group of chambers to vary speed.

The X-1 was the first in a series of "X"--or experimental--aircraft that were designed to answer fundamental questions, to probe the most challenging unknowns of flight and solve their mysteries. The program was also the Air Force's first foray into experimental flight research and the first collaborative effort in what would become an extraordinarily productive partnership between it and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The first NACA contingent arrived at Muroc Army Air Field (later Edwards) in September of 1946 and the NACA and its successor, NASA, have been conducting fundamental flight research there ever since.

There were four versions of the Bell X-1 rocket-powered research aircraft that flew at the NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station, Edwards, California. The bullet-shaped X-1 aircraft were built by Bell Aircraft Corporation, Buffalo, N.Y. for the U.S. Army Air Forces (after 1947, U.S. Air Force) and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The X-1 Program was originally designated the XS-1 for EXperimental Supersonic. The X-1’s mission was to investigate the transonic speed range (speeds from just below to just above the speed of sound) and, if possible, to break the "sound barrier." Three different X-1s were built and designated: X-1-1, X-1-2 (later modified to become the X-1E), and X-1-3. The basic X-1 aircraft were flown by a large number of different pilots from 1946 to 1951.

The X-1 Program not only proved that humans could go beyond the speed of sound, it reinforced the understanding that technological barriers could be overcome. The X-1s pioneered many structural and aerodynamic advances including extremely thin, yet extremely strong wing sections; supersonic fuselage configurations; control system requirements; powerplant compatibility; and cockpit environments. The X-1 aircraft were the first transonic-capable aircraft to use an all-moving stabilizer. The flights of the X-1s opened up a new era in aviation.

The X-1 program also represented a turning point. Up until that time, experimental flight research programs had always been flown by contractor or NACA test pilots. Thus it represented a major departure from convention when, after Bell pilots had demonstrated the flight worthiness of the airplane up to a speed of 0.8 Mach, the assault on Mach 1 was turned over to a young Air Force test pilot. The man chosen to make that assault was a 24-year old combat ace named Capt. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager . What followed is well known. After launch from a B-29 for his ninth powered flight on October 14, 1947, he accelerated to a speed of Mach 1.06 (700 mph) at 42,000 feet and shattered the myth of the sound barrier forever. Though few people could comprehend its full implications at the time, he had just taken the first step in a chain of events that would ultimately vault man beyond the atmosphere and into space.

This achievement also legitimized the role of military test pilots in flight research and, with the flights of the X-1, testing at Muroc began to assume two distinct identities. Highly experimental research programs were typically flown in conjunction with the NACA (later NASA) and conducted in a very methodical fashion to answer largely theoretical questions. Meanwhile, highly accelerated development programs to evaluate the capabilities of aircraft proposed for the operational inventory were conducted by Air Force and contractor test teams.

Even while the original X-1s were still flying, modified versions were being developed to study high-speed aerodynamics. Three second-generation aircraft were built: the X-1A, X-1B and X-1D. The X-1A, X-1B, and the X-1D were growth versions of the X-1. They were almost five feet longer, had an improved rocket propellent system and conventional canopies. The X-1A and X-1B were modified to have ejection seats. Their mission was to continue the X-1 studies at higher speeds and altitudes. All three of the Bell Aircraft Company manufactured planes had a 6,000-lb thrust, XLR-11 four-chambered rocket engine. The XLR-11 was built by Reaction Motors Inc. The aircraft were all air-launched from a carrier aircraft.

The X-1A was larger than its predecessor in order to carry more fuel, carried reliable turbo pumps, and had better cockpit visibility. This aircraft attained a speed of Mach 2.44 and an altitude of 90,440 feet. The X-1A was the first to begin this research after the X-1D was destroyed in an explosion on a captive flight before making any research flights.On December 12, 1953, Maj. Chuck Yeager piloted the X-1A rocket plane to a speed of Mach 2.44 (1,650 mph) in level flight at an altitude of approximately 76,000 feet. As he attained top speed, however, the X-1A tumbled violently out of control. He was encountering something new--something aerodynamicists called "inertia coupling." The airplane tumbled violently--about all three axes--for more than 40,000 feet before Yeager was able to begin to recover to wings-level, stable flight. When landed safely on Rogers Dry Lake he was, once again, the "fastest human alive" but it was quite apparent that there were still many mysteries to be solved concerning supersonic flight. Nine months later, on August 26, 1954, Maj. Arthur "Kit" Murray flew the same aircraft to a new altitude record of 90,440 feet. Those two performances were the records for the X-1 program. On July 20, 1955, the X-1A was lost just before its first NACA test flight when it had to be jettisoned from the launch aircraft following an onboard explosion.

The Bell X-1B was a second-generation X-1 used by the U.S. Air Force for pilot familiarization before being turned over to NACA in December 1954. The X-1B was similar to the Bell X-1A except for the installation of wingtips extensions for its last three flight. The X-1B had a modified fuselage with greater capacity for fuel tanks, an improved cockpit, and a turbopump fuel system as compared with the X-1. The NACA used the X-1B primarily for aerodynamic heating and reaction-control research from 1956 to 1958. The aircraft was fitted with special instrumentation for exploratory aerodynamic heating tests. It had over 300 thermocouples installed on it. The X-1B was the first aircraft to fly with a reaction-control system; a prototype of the reaction-control system used on the X-15 and other piloted test aircraft. . Midway through its flight test program, the X-1B was equipped with an Reaction Motors, Inc. XLR-11-RM-9 engine which differed, from the other XLR-11s, only in having an electric spark, low-tension interrupter type ignition in place of the older high-tension type. The X-1B was given to the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Dayton, Ohio, on January 27, 1959, for preservation and display. This aircraft completed a total of 27 glide and powered flights by eight U.S. Air Force and two NACA test pilots.

The X-1C was cancelled while still in the mock-up stage.

The X-1D had short career, just one flight. On 24 July 1951, its nose gear failed during landing. The X-1D was destroyed in August 1951 after being jettisoned from its B-50 carrier plane, following an explosion.

The number two X-1 was modified and redesignated the X-1E. The modifications included adding a conventional canopy, an ejection seat, a low-pressure fuel system of increased capacity, and a thinner high-speed wing. The X-1E was used to obtain in-flight data at twice the speed of sound, with particular emphasis placed on investigating the improvements achieved with the high-speed wing. These wings, made by Stanley Aircraft, were only 3 - 3/8-in. thick at the thickest point and had 343 gauges installed in them for measurement of structural loads and aerodynamic heating. The X-1E used the XLR-11 rocket engine from the X-1 to power it up to a speed of 1,471 mph and to an altitude of 73,458 ft. Like the X-1 it was air launched.

Specifications:
Primary Function: Experimental Aircraft
Contractor: Bell
Crew: One
Unit Cost: N/A
Powerplant: Reaction Motors, Inc., XLR-11-RM-3 (model A6000C4) four chamber rocket engine, rated at 6,000 lb static thrust

Dimensions:
Length: 30.9 feet
Wingspan: 28 feet
Height: 10.85 feet
Weights: Empty: 7,000 lb / Maximum Takeoff: N/A

Performance :
Speed: mach 1.45 (957mph)
Ceiling: 71,900 feet
Range: N/A

Armaments:
None

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All photos Copyright of Global Securtity.org

[snippy_about_it]

Now that's an odd looking plane. Thanks Johnny.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Johnny

[radu]

Good evening y'all!

Hello troops and veterans!
THANK YOU for serving the USA!

Forget? NO WAY!!

[Darksheare]

Radu!!
*big grin*
Good to see you.

[Soaring Feather]

Howdy radu!!

How's tricks?? Life back to "normal", what ever that is, eh??

[radu]

Hi y'all!

Life back to "normal", what ever that is, eh??

Normal? That'll never happen around here. LOL!! Goes against the grain.
But things are muuuuch quieter. Whew! Now if I can just get this last glass panel finished tonight, I'll be cookin' with gas! It's been a stinker, for sure.

Hubby's sitting here impatiently waiting for supper so I guess I'd better take care of that little detail. *giggle* Have a wonderful evening.

[SAMWolf]

Hi Radu!

[SAMWolf]

Hiya Darksheare. Bouncing around today?

[snippy_about_it]

Hi radu!

[snippy_about_it]

Youngin', did you miss the Foxhole's 1st anniversary yesterday or did I miss you, hmmmm?

[Darksheare]

"Nermal"?
Define Normal.
*chuckle*
*Magic 8 ball says: "Normal is a relative concept"*

[The Mayor]

Good Evening to you two.

Long day working and I just got home after picking up my
son from work. He's 16 and his 1st job is at Tim Hortons Donuts.
I'm about ready to call it a night.

[Darksheare]

Both.
*chuckle*

[Soaring Feather]

Nermal is when you think you're crazy and know you're not!

Then there is when everyone else thinks you're crazy! LOL

[Darksheare]

As always.
*chuckle*

[Darksheare]

What about when you know you're crazy and everyone thinks you're not?
*chuckle, innocent look*
Not that I would personally know anything about that, oohh... flying squid...
/ joke.

[w_over_w]

Evening Grace Snip & Sam~

Bless both your hearts for todays thread.

"Silence in Ranks, and close up in the rear,
Look out in the front, If the foe should appear,
Blaze away, show no Quarter, but slay as you go,
And should you fall, Let it be with face to the foe."
~Prvt. S.J. Adams, Texas Ranger~from the "Battle of San Bennidito"

Sam, glad you enjoyed the "bushswackling" Master and Commander, it really took one into the guts of sea battles back then.