"FOR ALL TO SEE - Mrs. Sharon Riedenauer unveils the name of her late husband Lt. Col. Robert Riedenauer on his F-104 Starfighter on Wednesday at Joe Davies Heritage Airpark in Palmdale."KELLY LACEFIELD/Valley Press
Posted on 06/21/2007 2:53:51 PM PDT by BenLurkin
PALMDALE - Air Force Lt. Col. Robert Riedenauer took the controls of some of the nation's most advanced aircraft during a military and civilian test pilot career that made him the only test pilot to have flown the U-2, SR-71 and F-117 aircraft. Now, the memory of his exploits is a permanent part of the Joe Davies Heritage Airpark at Palmdale Plant 42, with his name affixed beneath the cockpit of a Palmdale-built F-104 Starfighter -the Cold War-era "missile with a man in it" jet he once piloted.
Riedenauer, who died April 23 at his Palmdale home after a long battle with cancer, is the first Pilot in Memorium honored at the airpark.
Family, friends and admirers turned out Wednesday morning to remember Riedenauer, a modest man who was not one to discuss his many exploits and accomplishments.
"He never talked about it," his wife Sharon said of his flying career. " 'I flew a lot of airplanes' - that was his answer.
"Bob was a very unique man, very private. Nobody knew half of what he did."
A 1969 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, Riedenauer began his test career on F-111 programs and the U-2.
He flew more than 120 hours in the U-2 in aiding the development of advanced sensor systems.
Riedenauer then flew developmental flight tests of the SR-71, retiring from the Air Force as chief test pilot for that program.
As a test pilot and director of operations for Lockheed's Skunk Works, he helped design, develop and test classified programs such as the F-117 stealth fighter.
(Excerpt) Read more at avpress.com ...
"FOR ALL TO SEE - Mrs. Sharon Riedenauer unveils the name of her late husband Lt. Col. Robert Riedenauer on his F-104 Starfighter on Wednesday at Joe Davies Heritage Airpark in Palmdale."KELLY LACEFIELD/Valley Press
Smart bomb?
some related:
Heroic drivers set to race F-104 flown by heroic pilots
http://www.avpress.com/n/04/0604_s14.hts | June 4, 2006. | MARISSA WIDDISON
Posted on 06/04/2006 12:32:28 PM EDT by BenLurkin
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1643216/posts
Three pilots involved in X-15 flights given astronaut wings
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1469834/posts
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Posted on 05/05/2007 4:48:27 PM EDT by Nasty McPhilthy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1828954/posts
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