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Scott Crossfield, Test Pilot, giving a talk, Lowery AFB, Colorado, July 2000
Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia for the text.
Edited by David Barth February 2016. Photos were taken by David Barth.
Born October 2, 1921, in Berkeley, California, died April 19, 2006 (aged 84), 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 to 1950, he worked in the University of Washington's Kirsten Wind Tunnel while earning his Bachelor of Science degree in 1949 and Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1950.
In 1950, Crossfield joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics' (NACA) High-Speed Flight Station (later called the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, and now named the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center) at Edwards Air Force Base, California, as an aeronautical research pilot.
he flew nearly all of the experimental aircraft under test at Edwards, including the X-1, XF-92, X-4, X-5, Douglas D-558-I Skystreak and the Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket. During one of his X-1 flights, the cockpit windows completely frosted and Crossfield was literally flying blind. Ever resourceful, he removed a loafer, took off his sock, and created a peep hole to reference his chase plane wingman all the way to landing.
On November 20, 1953, he became the first person to fly at twice the speed of sound as he piloted the Skyrocket to a speed of 1,291 mph (2,078 km/h, Mach 2.005). The Skyrocket D-558-II surpassed its intended design speed by 25 percent on that day. With 99 flights in the rocket-powered X-1 and D-558-II, Crossfield 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.
| AWARDS AND RECOGNITION GIVEN TO SCOTT CROSSFIELD | |
|---|---|
| YEAR | AWARD |
| 1954 | Lawrence Sperry Award |
| 1954 | Octave Chanute Award |
| 1960 | Iven C. Kincheloe Award |
| 1960 | American Rocket Society (ARS) Astronautics Award |
| 1961 | Harmon International Trophy |
| 1961 | Collier Trophy |
| 1962 | Collier Trophy |
| 1962 | John J. Montgomery Award |
| 1983 | National Aviation Hall of Fame |
| 1988 | International Space Hall of Fame |
| 1990 | Aerospace Walk of Honor |
| 1990 | The Glen A. Gilbert Memorial Award |
| 1993 | NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal |
| 1998 | Virginia Aviation Hall of Fame |
| 1999 | Honorary Fellow by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) |
| 2000 | National Air and Space Museum Trophy |
| (Posthumous, after April 2006) | Hoyt S. Vandenberg Award |
| (Posthumous, after April 2006) | Paul Tissandier Diploma |
| (Posthumous, after April 2006) | Victor A. Prather Award |
| (Posthumous, after April 2006) | Donald D. Engen Award |
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| Scott Crossfield, Test Pilot, giving a talk, at Lowery AFB, Colorado, July 2000. The Mach 2 Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket is pictured. |
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| Scott Crossfield, Test Pilot, giving a talk, at Lowery AFB, Colorado, July 2000. |
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| Scott Crossfield, Test Pilot, signing autographs at Lowery AFB, Colorado, July 2000. |