Scott Crossfield, 1st X-15 pilot, dead....

[Dr Mordrid]

http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=4794452

First man to fly the X-15 spaceplane and first to exceed MACH 2 has died in a private plane crash;

BIO: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/8851456/detail.html

It can be argued that Crossfield and the other X-15 pilots were the real 1st men in space....

Dr. Mordrid

[cjolley]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/20/geo....ap/index.html

Amazing guy.
Died in a Cessna of all things.

Edit: more info-

http://www.edwards.af.mil/history/do...rossfield.html

X-15 Pilots: Scott Crossfield

Scott Crossfield grew up in California and Washington. He served with the U.S. Navy as a flight instructor and fighter pilot during World War II.

From 1946-50, he worked in the University of Washington’s Kirsten Wind Tunnel while earning his bachelor's and master's degrees in aeronautical engineering. In 1950, he joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics' High-Speed Flight Station (now the NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility) at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., as an aeronautical research pilot.

Over the next five years, he flew nearly all of the experimental aircraft under test at Edwards, including the X-1, XF-92, X-4, X-5, D-558-I and the Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket.

On Nov. 20, 1953, he became the first man to fly at twice the speed of sound as he piloted the Skyrocket to a speed of 1,291 mph (Mach 2.005). With 99 flights in the rocket-powered X-1 and D-558-II, he had — by a wide margin — more experience with rocketplanes than any other pilot in the world by the time he left Edwards to join North American Aviation in 1955. As North American's chief engineering test pilot, he played a major role in the design and development of the X-15 and its systems. Once it was ready to fly, it was his job to demonstrate its airworthiness at speeds ranging up to Mach 3. Because the X-15 and its systems were unproven, these tests were considered extremely hazardous.

On June 8, 1959, he completed the airplane's first flight, an unpowered glide from 37,550 feet. On Sept. 17, 1959, he completed the first powered flight. Because of delays in the development of the X-15's mammoth 57,000-pound thrust XLR-99 engine, the early flights were completed with a pair of interim XLR-11 rocket engines.

Shortly after launch on his third flight, one of these engines exploded. Unable to jettison his propellants, Crossfield was forced to make an emergency landing during which the excessive load on the aircraft broke its back just behind the cockpit. He was uninjured and the airplane was repaired.

On June 8, 1960, he had another close call during ground tests with the XLR-99 engine. He was seated in the cockpit of the No. 3 X-15 when a malfunctioning valve caused a catastrophic explosion. Remarkably, he was once again uninjured and the airplane was completely rebuilt. On Nov.15, 1960, he completed the X-15's first powered flight with the XLR-99 engine. Two flights later, on Dec. 6, 1960, he brought North American's demonstration program to a successful conclusion as he completed his final flight in the X-15.

Altogether, he completed 16 captive carry (mated to the B-52 launch aircraft), one glide and 13 powered flights in the X-15.

He remained at North American as systems director of test and quality assurance in the company's Space and Information Systems Division where he oversaw quality, reliability engineering and systems test activities for such programs as the Apollo command and service modules and the Saturn II booster.

In 1966, he became the division's technical director for research engineering and test. In 1967, he joined Eastern Airlines where he served as a division vice president for research and development and, subsequently, as a staff vice president working with U.S. military and civilian agencies on air traffic control technologies.

In 1974-5, he worked for Hawker-Siddeley as a senior vice president supporting HS 146 activities in the United States. In 1977, he joined the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology where he served, until his retirement in 1993, as a technical adviser on all aspects of civil aviation research and development and became one of the nation's leading advocates for a reinvigorated research airplane program.

Among his countless honors, Scott Crossfield has received the Lawrence Sperry Award, Octave Chanute Award, Iven C. Kincheloe Award, Harmon International Trophy, and the Collier Trophy. He has been inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame (1983), the International Space Hall of Fame (1988), and the Aerospace Walk of Honor (1990).

http://www.avweb.com/news/profiles/182924-1.html

...
Were you flying general aviation through your days at NACA?

No. I went into the Navy right after the war started. Then after the Navy I flew very little GA. I flew in the reserves in Seattle in the 13th Naval District. I led the 13th Naval District Aerobatic Team in Corsairs. I had gone to the University of Washington before the war, and I went back after the war. I graduated in '49, stayed and got my masters in 1950, then I went to NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics). I didn't fly GA until I bought a Bonanza in 1956, and I flew that during the X-15 program days. I flew it all over the country and never got paid a nickel for it. North American's lawyers didn't think it was safe for me to fly a Bonanza up to Edwards to fly the X-15. I could go by dog cart or automobile or horseback or walk and get paid, but they wouldn't pay for the trip to Edwards and back in the Bonanza. So I flew at my own expense.

When I went to the Apollo program, I was so busy that I couldn't keep the airplane. So I sold it, and did very little flying until the late '80s. My wife, who has always been a godsend as the wife of a pilot, said "If you don't start flying again now, you never will." I asked a friend who owned a Taylorcraft if I could fly his airplane. I figured if I could still land a taildragger in a gusty quartering tailwind, I still had the motor skills. I flew it, enjoyed it, had no problems — even after 20 years of not doing much — and I bought the Cessna 210 I have now. I've flown it 2,000 hours in the last ten years.

With P-51s and L-39s and Lancair 4s to pick from, there must be something special about your 1961 Cessna 210A.

Well, it's mine and it's paid for. It rolled out in December of 1960 and was the third A-model produced. Of those 2,000 hours, probably 1,950 of them have been by myself. I have no autopilot and I love to hand-fly it.

When I was at North American I flew over the San Gabriel mountains that separate the LA basin from Edwards, and I had to deal with the cloud deck that came in every night, but I came and went as I pleased. The company lawyers, who were already my enemies because they wouldn't pay for my flights, went bananas because their chief engineering test pilot didn't have an instrument ticket. I had taught instrument flight in WW II but I never had the piece of paper. I fixed that in 1989 and got my instrument rating.

...

[cjolley]

He was also the original test pilot for the T-39 Saberliner which my Dad flew for the last 10 years of his Air Force career.

[Technoid]

Sad to hear

I'm never setting a foot in a cessna, most private aviation accidents seems to include a cessna, they seems to be cursed

[cjolley]

Sad to hear

I'm never setting a foot in a cessna, most private aviation accidents seems to include a cessna, they seems to be cursed

Not at all, there are just so many of them.