Test Pilot's Body Said Found in Wreckage
DANIEL YEE, Associated Press Writer
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=2&u=/ap/20060420/ap_on_re_us/missing_plane
RANGER, Ga. - Legendary test pilot Scott Crossfield, the first man to fly at twice the speed of sound, was found dead Thursday in the wreckage of a single-engine plane in the mountains of northern Georgia, his son-in-law said.
Searchers discovered the wreckage of a small plane about 50 miles northwest of Atlanta, but the Civil Air Patrol didn't immediately identify the body inside.
Ed Fleming, Crossfield's son-in-law, told The Associated Press from Crossfield's home in Herndon, Va., that family had been told it was Crossfield.
Crossfield's Cessna was last spotted in the same area on Wednesday while on flight from Alabama to Virginia. There were thunderstorms in the area when officials lost radar and radio contact with the plane at 11:15 a.m., said Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
Crossfield, 84, had been one of a group of civilian pilots assembled by the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics, the forerunner of NASA, in the early 1950s.
Air Force Capt. Chuck Yeager had already broken the speed of sound in his history-making flight in 1947. But Crossfield set the Mach 2 record — twice the speed of sound — in 1953, when he reached 1,300 mph in NACA's Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket.
In 1960, Crossfield reached Mach 2.97 in an X-15 rocket plane launched from a B-52 bomber. The plane reached an altitude of 81,000 feet. At the time, Crossfield was working as a pilot and design consultant for North American Aviation, which made the X-15. He later worked as an executive for Eastern Airlines and Hawker Siddley Aviation.
More recently, Crossfield had a key role in preparations for the attempt to re-enact the Wright brothers' flight on the 100th anniversary of their feat near Kitty Hawk, N.C. He trained four pilots for the Dec. 17, 2003, flight attempt in a replica of the brothers' flyer, but poor weather prevented the take-off.
Among his many honors, Crossfield was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1983.
On Wednesday, his plane had left Prattville, Ala., around 9 a.m. en route to Manassas, Va., not far from his home.
Test Pilot Scott Crossfield is shown in this Nov. 20, 1953 file photo. A single-engine airplane registered to legendary test pilot Scott Crossfield, the first man to fly at Mach 2 and Mach 3, was missing Thursday, April 20, 2006, a day after it left Alabama for the Washington, D.C., area. The plane was last spotted on radar Wednesday in Georgia, north of Atlanta, the Civil Air Patrol's Georgia Wing said. (AP Photo/Douglas Air Craft, file)
Test Pilot Scott Crossfield sits in a centrifuge machine which duplicates the stress of extreme acceleration encountered by jet pilots at high altitudes, in this Feb. 28, 1958, file photo. A single-engine airplane registered to legendary test pilot Scott Crossfield, the first man to fly at Mach 2 and Mach 3, was missing Thursday, April 20, 2006, a day after it left Alabama for the Washington, D.C., area. The plane was last spotted on radar Wednesday in Georgia, north of Atlanta, the Civil Air Patrol's Georgia Wing said. (AP Photo/file)
84 years old?!? And still flying? Good God!
My mother was the director of the Will Rogers Memorial in the 80's when Rogers was inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame. She was one of the dignitaries for the presentation, and during the day of the ceremony she was met by the AHoF people and given a tour of the place.
She and my dad were driven all over the air base for several hours by this nice guy, who they were introduced to as "a pilot". He told them about everything and was a great host. They had no idea who he was.
At the presentation that night, the previous inductees were on the dais, and their driver turned out to be Scott Crossfield. My dad said he could have kicked himself. He'd have loved to ask him about all his flying experiences, but they didn't know who he was.
Have a good flight West, Scott.