Entering the U.S. Navy in 1942, A. Scott Crossfield first served as a fighter pilot during World War II. After the war he returned to the University of Washington to receive a degree in aeronautical science. In June 1950, after accumulating some 2,500 hours of flight time, he joined the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (later NASA) as an engineering research pilot. In the succeeding five years he played a major role in the testing of many experimental aircraft, becoming one of the first pilots to fly twice the speed of sound (1,327 miles per hour) in the Douglas D-588 rocket powered aircraft. Crossfield capped his distinguished test pilot career as the NASA program manager and first project pilot on the X-15 rocket powered research aircraft, taking the aircraft to the fringes of outer space. It is possible that no other test pilot in aviation history has test flown as many aircraft that are now displayed in flight museums. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Milestones of Flight Gallery includes the #1 X-15 and the #2 Skyrocket, in which Crossfield flew faster than Mach 2. He also flew the #2 Bell X-1, the sister ship of the #1, Glamorous Glennis, which also hangs in the same gallery. He is one of six test pilots who were the founding members of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP), and his participation in that organization continued until his death on April 19, 2006. Subsequent to service with NASA, he joined the aerospace industry, becoming directly involved in manned space flight projects.
Inducted in 1965.
Portrait Location: Modern Jet