Jean L. 'Skip' Ziegler 1920-1953 Bell Aircraft Corporation Chief
Test Pilot Jean 'Skip' Ziegler served with the Air Transport
Command during World War II, and flew one of the ten transports
which evacuated 10,000 persons from Burma in a single month. He
made pioneering flights on the X-1A, X-5 and X-2. Ziegler made
the first flight of the X-5 and, in July 1951, the first flight
when the small pot-bellied aircraft moved its wings and their
sweep angle changed from a 24° position to 20°, making it the
first aircraft to change its wing sweep in flight. Ziegler also
made the first flight of the X-2 and died in its explosion, less
than two years after the X-5's history-making flight in 1953.