Oral History - 100 years of Test Flying
Moderator
Thread Starter
Oral History - 100 years of Test Flying
This is posted by kind permission of Camelpilot, and I have no commercial interest whatsoever.
Last year, I was enormously privileged to attend the "100 years of test flying" oral history session run by the Society of Experimental Test pilots at their annual Los Angeles binge (sorry, symposium). The oral history ran over about 2 days in total, and the line up was, well, mindblowing. Hearing about breaking the sound barrier from Chuck Yeager, landing on the moon from Buzz Aldrin, and the history of experimental flying from Burt Rutan was as good as aviation nostalgia gets.
Anyhow, why am I going on about this, apart from gloating because I was there and most of you weren't. Well, SETP videod the whole thing, and have just announced that it's available on DVD (well six of them in fact). If anybody's interested, details are at http://www.setp.org/HTML/NewsRoom/news.html?nid=21
And that's it really - I just wanted to share the fact, and mention that despite having been there, I'm spending my own money on a set. I've posted the line up below.
G
Historical Flying Machine Gustave Whitehead No 21
Horst Philipp
In-Flight Simulation:AIAA 2003 Wright Flyer
Maj. Michael Jansen / Capt. Timothy Jorris
Panel Discussion
A. Scott Crossfield-Wright Flyer Replica
Vern Jobst / Edward P. Kolano:Spirit of St. Louis Replica
Replica of the Clement Aders Eole Aircraft
Claudius La Burthe
Sound Barrier
Robert L. Cardenas, Robert A. Hoover, Charles E. Yeager
X-15/Lifting Bodies
A. Scott Crossfield, William H. Dana, Joe H. Engle, W. J. “Pete” Knight, Cecil W. Powell, R. Dale Reed, Robert M. White
General / Commercial Aviation
John E. Cashman:Boeing 777, James R. Gannett - Boeing 707, Paul B. MacCready, Jr.:Gossamer Condor/Albatross, Peter T. Reynolds:Learjet Model 28, Burt Rutan, Scaled Composites
Vertical Flight
Robert G. Ferry:XV-3, Jack C. Jackson - Harrier, Jesse P. Jacobs:XC-142, Stanley J. Kakol: X-22A, Donald R. Segner:Vertol 76, Drury W. Wood: DO31
Modern Fighters
Patrick M. Experton – Mirage, Stig Holmström – Gripen, John E. Krings:F-15/F-18, Philip F. Oestricher:F-16, Robert K. Smyth:F-14
Carrier Aviation
William C. Bowes, Eric Brown, , Kurt C. Schroeder
Fast and Heavy Iron
Stanley P. Butchart:B-29, Fitzhugh L. Fulton:B-58, Robert A. Rivers – Concorde/TU-44, Guy M. Townsend:B-52, Alvin S. White:XB-70
Black World
Richard S. Couch - B-2, Ken Dyson – Have Blue/Tacit Blue, James D. Eastham:YF-12A, Robert J. Gilliland:SR-71, Thomas A. Morgenfeld:F-117, Kenneth W. Weir:U-2
Mercury / Gemini / Apollo Astronauts
Buzz Aldrin, Ph.D., Vance D. Brand , M. Scott Carpenter, Michael Collins, Eugene A. Cernan, James A. Lovell
Space Shuttle
Robert L. Crippen, C. Gordon Fullerton, Fitzhugh L. Fulton, Jr., Richard H. Truly
Last year, I was enormously privileged to attend the "100 years of test flying" oral history session run by the Society of Experimental Test pilots at their annual Los Angeles binge (sorry, symposium). The oral history ran over about 2 days in total, and the line up was, well, mindblowing. Hearing about breaking the sound barrier from Chuck Yeager, landing on the moon from Buzz Aldrin, and the history of experimental flying from Burt Rutan was as good as aviation nostalgia gets.
Anyhow, why am I going on about this, apart from gloating because I was there and most of you weren't. Well, SETP videod the whole thing, and have just announced that it's available on DVD (well six of them in fact). If anybody's interested, details are at http://www.setp.org/HTML/NewsRoom/news.html?nid=21
And that's it really - I just wanted to share the fact, and mention that despite having been there, I'm spending my own money on a set. I've posted the line up below.
G
Historical Flying Machine Gustave Whitehead No 21
Horst Philipp
In-Flight Simulation:AIAA 2003 Wright Flyer
Maj. Michael Jansen / Capt. Timothy Jorris
Panel Discussion
A. Scott Crossfield-Wright Flyer Replica
Vern Jobst / Edward P. Kolano:Spirit of St. Louis Replica
Replica of the Clement Aders Eole Aircraft
Claudius La Burthe
Sound Barrier
Robert L. Cardenas, Robert A. Hoover, Charles E. Yeager
X-15/Lifting Bodies
A. Scott Crossfield, William H. Dana, Joe H. Engle, W. J. “Pete” Knight, Cecil W. Powell, R. Dale Reed, Robert M. White
General / Commercial Aviation
John E. Cashman:Boeing 777, James R. Gannett - Boeing 707, Paul B. MacCready, Jr.:Gossamer Condor/Albatross, Peter T. Reynolds:Learjet Model 28, Burt Rutan, Scaled Composites
Vertical Flight
Robert G. Ferry:XV-3, Jack C. Jackson - Harrier, Jesse P. Jacobs:XC-142, Stanley J. Kakol: X-22A, Donald R. Segner:Vertol 76, Drury W. Wood: DO31
Modern Fighters
Patrick M. Experton – Mirage, Stig Holmström – Gripen, John E. Krings:F-15/F-18, Philip F. Oestricher:F-16, Robert K. Smyth:F-14
Carrier Aviation
William C. Bowes, Eric Brown, , Kurt C. Schroeder
Fast and Heavy Iron
Stanley P. Butchart:B-29, Fitzhugh L. Fulton:B-58, Robert A. Rivers – Concorde/TU-44, Guy M. Townsend:B-52, Alvin S. White:XB-70
Black World
Richard S. Couch - B-2, Ken Dyson – Have Blue/Tacit Blue, James D. Eastham:YF-12A, Robert J. Gilliland:SR-71, Thomas A. Morgenfeld:F-117, Kenneth W. Weir:U-2
Mercury / Gemini / Apollo Astronauts
Buzz Aldrin, Ph.D., Vance D. Brand , M. Scott Carpenter, Michael Collins, Eugene A. Cernan, James A. Lovell
Space Shuttle
Robert L. Crippen, C. Gordon Fullerton, Fitzhugh L. Fulton, Jr., Richard H. Truly
Grandpa Aerotart
I always find it interesting that whenever there is anthing on TV, or any other forum, about Apollo 11 it's always Buzz Aldrin we hear from and never Neil Armstrong. Not that Aldrin is not interesting but is Armstrong really so reclusive?
I just love listening to people like Crossfield and Dana...if anything on the test flying era post WW2 to about 1970 comes on discovery channel thats me sorted unto its conclusion. Crossfield to me epitimises a real pilot's pilot. My favorite quote from him is "Aviation is a human endeavour, if humans aren't involved I'm not interested/it's not worth doing" when talking about unmanned vehicles.
Yeager I can take or leave these days.
I just love listening to people like Crossfield and Dana...if anything on the test flying era post WW2 to about 1970 comes on discovery channel thats me sorted unto its conclusion. Crossfield to me epitimises a real pilot's pilot. My favorite quote from him is "Aviation is a human endeavour, if humans aren't involved I'm not interested/it's not worth doing" when talking about unmanned vehicles.
Yeager I can take or leave these days.
