From: Jeff (jcerniglia@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Thu Apr 20 2006 - 23:57:40 PDT
I remember the night I met Mr Crossfield when he was
giving a lecture on his life in the aerospace research
industry, My favorite story he gave that night was how
as flight instructor in WW2 he and his fellow
instructors, frustrated they were not able to see
combat, would take up Stearmans to 5,000 feet, put
them into a dive and then pull up and try to rip the
wings off!! This is of course while they were wearing
parachutes, they never were sucessful. They broke the
mold with him and other test pilots from that era,
none today I think would have the same balls to do
what they did. fly on home Scott
--- Alan Wise <awise1@cinci.rr.com> wrote:
> One of the greatest test pilots.....
>
> April 20, 2006
>
>
> Missing Single Engine Aircraft Located
>
>
> (Georgia) - The 1960 Cessna 210A aircraft belonging
> to A. Scott Crossfield
> of Herndon, Va. has been located. Crossfield was
> on a flight from
> Prattville, Ala. to Manassas, Va. Tuesday morning
> when the aircraft
> disappeared from radar. The last radar contact with
> the aircraft was in the
> north Georgia area. The Civil Air Patrol conducted
> air and ground searches
> along the flight path and located the crash site in
> Gilmer County. There
> were no survivors.
>
> Crossfield, 84, was born in Berkely, Calif. on Oct.
> 2, 1921.
>
> Crossfield was a colonel in the Civil Air Patrol.
> He was a strong supporter
> of the Civil Air Patrol and, in particular, CAP's
> aerospace education
> program. He created the A. Scott Crossfield
> Aerospace Education Teacher of
> the Year Award to recognize and reward teachers for
> outstanding
> accomplishments in aerospace education and for their
> dedication to the
> students they teach. The Scott Crossfield Award for
> senior members is CAP's
> highest award in aerospace education.
>
> At his 80th birthday, in 2001, Crossfield was still
> flying 200 hours per
> year as a private pilot/instrument rating. He was a
> fighter gunnery
> instructor in the U.S. Navy during WWII. In 1950,
> he joined NASA's
> predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for
> Aeronautics, and was a
> research pilot for the next five years at the High
> Speed Flight Research
> Station at Edwards, Calif. Crossfield was the test
> pilot for numerous
> research aircraft, including the X-1, X-4, X-5,
> XF-92, the D-558-I and
> D-558-II while at Edwards. It is possible that no
> other test pilot in
> aviation history has test flown as many aircraft
> that are now displayed in
> flight museums -- The Smithsonian National Air and
> Space Museum's Milestones
> of Flight Gallery includes the #1 X-15 and the #2
> Skyrocket. He also flew
> the #2 Bell X-1, the sister ship of the #1
> ("Glamorous Glennis"), which also
> hangs in the same gallery. On Nov. 20, 1953, he set
> four speed records
> before becoming the first man to reach Mach 2 (twice
> the speed of sound) in
> the air-launched, rocket-propelled D-558-2.
> Crossfield capped his
> distinguished test pilot career as the NASA program
> manager and first
> project pilot on the X-15 rocket powered research
> aircraft, taking the
> aircraft to the fringes of outer space.
> Among his countless honors, Crossfield received the
> Lawrence Sperry Award,
> Octave Chanute Award, Iven C. Kincheloe Award,
> Harmon International Trophy
> and the Collier Trophy. He was inducted into the
> National Aviation Hall of
> Fame (1983), the International Space Hall of Fame
> (1988) and the Aerospace
> Walk of Honor (1990).
>
>
>
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