A. SCOTT CROSSFIELD, NAA

Scott Crossfield flew the X-15 for 18 months, from 8 June 1959 until 6 December 1960, making 14 flights. These included one glide flight, 10 flights with the XLR11, and three flights with the XLR99. Crossfield reached Mach 2.97, a speed of 1,960 mph, and an altitude of 88,116 feet. His accomplishments include the first X-15 glide flight, the first powered flight, the first flight with the XLR99, and the first emergency landing.

Albert Scott Crossfield was born on 2 October 1921 in Berkeley, California. He began his engineering training at the University of Washington in 1940, but interrupted his education to join the U. S. Navy in 1942. Following flight training, he served as a fighter and gunnery instructor, and maintenance officer before spending six months in the South Pacific without seeing combat duty. After the war, Crossfield was the leader of a Navy acrobatic team that flew FG-1D Corsairs at various exhibitions and airshows in the Pacific Northwest.-17

He resumed his engineering studies in 1946 and graduated with a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Washington in 1949. He earned a master of science degree in aeronautical science the following year from the same university, and received an honorary doctor of science degree from the Florida Institute of Technology in 1982.

Crossfield joined the HSFS as a research pilot in June 1950. During the next five years he flew the X-1, X-4, X-5, XF-92A, D-558-1, and D-558-2 aircraft, accumulating 87 rocket-powered flights in the X-1 and D-558-2, and 12 in the D-558-2 with jet power only. On 20 November 1953, Crossfield became the first pilot to exceed Mach 2, in the D-558-2 Skyrocket. Crossfield left the NACA in 1955 to work for North American Aviation on the X-15 as both pilot and design consultant.[8]

In 1960, Crossfield published his autobiography (written with Clay Blair, Jr.), Always Another Dawn: The Story of a Rocket Test Pilot (Cleveland and New York: World Publishing Company,

1960; reprinted New York: Arno Press, 1971; reprinted North Stratford, NH: Ayer Company

Publishers, 1999). The book covers his life through the completion of the early X-15 flights and is a fascinating story for anybody who is interested in that period of flight test.

Crossfield also served for five years at North American as the director responsible for systems test, reliability engineering, and quality assurance for the WS-131 Hound Dog missile, the Paraglider, the Apollo command and service module, and the Saturn booster. From 1966 to 1967 he served as technical director of research engineering and test at North American Aviation.

Crossfield served as an executive for Eastern Airlines from 1967 to 1973, and as senior vice president of Hawker Siddeley Aviation during 1974-1975. From 1977 until his retirement in 1993, Crossfield served as technical consultant to the House Committee on Science and Technology, advising committee members on matters related to civil aviation. In 1993 he received the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal for his contributions to aeronautics and aviation over a period spanning half a century.

Crossfield was a joint recipient of the 1961 Robert J. Collier Trophy presented by President John F. Kennedy at the White House in July 1962. Other awards included the International Clifford B. Harmon Trophy for 1960, the Lawrence Sperry Award, the Octave Chanute Award, the Iven C. Kincheloe Award, and the Harmon International 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). In 2006 the American Astronautical Society awarded Crossfield and David Clark the Victor A. Prather Award for the development of the full-pressure suit. Crossfield died on 19 April 2006 when his Cessna 210 crashed during a severe thunderstorm over Georgia.191