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John Barron McKay (December 8, 1922 – April 27, 1975) was an American naval officer, World War II pilot, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and astronaut.He was one of twelve pilots who flew the North American X-15, an experimental spaceplane jointly operated by the United States Air Force and NASA.
X-15 pilots and their achievements during the program Pilot Organization Year assigned to X-15 [30] [31] Total flights USAF space flights FAI space flights Max Mach Max speed (mph) Max altitude (miles) Michael J. Adams † U.S. Air Force 1966 7 1 0 5.59 3,822 50.3 Neil A. Armstrong: NASA 1960 [32] 7 0 0 5.74 3,989 39.2 Scott Crossfield: North ...
Twelve pilots flew the X-15 over the course of its career. Scott Crossfield and William Dana flew the X-15 on its first and last free flights, respectively. Joseph Walker set the program's top two altitude records on its 90th and 91st free flights (347,800 and 354,200 feet, respectively), becoming the only pilot to fly past the Kármán line, the 100 kilometer, FAI-recognized boundary of outer ...
Robert Michael White (July 6, 1924 – March 17, 2010) (Maj Gen, USAF) [2] was an American electrical engineer, test pilot, fighter pilot, and astronaut. [3] [4] He was one of twelve pilots who flew the North American X-15, an experimental spaceplane jointly operated by the Air Force and NASA.
William John "Pete" Knight (November 18, 1929 – May 7, 2004) (Col, USAF) was an American aeronautical engineer, politician, Vietnam War combat pilot, test pilot, and astronaut. He was one of twelve pilots who flew the North American X-15, an experimental spaceplane jointly operated by the U.S. Air Force and NASA.
Milton Orville Thompson (May 4, 1926 – August 6, 1993), (Lt Cmdr, USNR), better known as Milt Thompson, was an American naval officer, aviator, engineer, and NASA research pilot. He was one of twelve pilots who flew the North American X-15, an experimental spaceplane jointly operated by the United States Air Force and NASA.
In August 1958, he was assigned duties as Research Pilot in the X-15 Program and served at the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California until January 1962. During that time, he made five free flights in the X-15 and achieved a speed of 3,600 mph (5,800 km/h) ( Mach 5.3) and an altitude of about 102,000 feet (31 km).
The retirement of the X-15 (due to funding cutbacks) after its record-setting Mach 6.70 (4,520 mph) [12] [13] flight prompted pilot Pete Knight to remark that he would have pushed it to even faster speeds if he knew it was the last flight. In his remarks to a number of aviation groups, Crossfield cited the X-15 as one of few aircraft that ...