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Description
Lee R. Scherer was appointed Director of the NASA Flight Research Center on October 11, 1971, a position he held until January 28, 1975. Mr. Scherer first worked with NASA in 1962 while still on active duty with the U.S. Navy as a Captain. Prior to his arriving at the Flight Research Center he was at NASA Headquarters? Office of Space Science and Applications, as Director of the Apollo Program for the scientific aspects of lunar explorations, Assistant Director of Lunar Programs, and Manager of the Lunar Orbiter Program from its inception in 1963 through its successful completion in 1967. Scherer graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1942. Most of Lee?s 25-year Naval career was spent in aviation, including a tour flying carrier-based fighters and flight test experience with helicopters. Prior to entering the Naval Academy, he attended the University of Kentucky for one year. He received a second Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering in 1949 from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School and his Master?s degree in aeronautical engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1950. Lee also attended the Summer of Industrial Management Studies program at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1949. Awards he has received include the NASA?s Exceptional Service Medal in 1967 and NASA?s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 1969.
Description
Stanley P. Butchart joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics? High-Speed Flight Research Station on May 10, 1951. Stan was the fourth research pilot hired at the Station affording him the opportunity to fly the early research aircraft. Stan began a flying career while attending Junior College. He received primary and secondary civilian pilot training, enlisting in the U.S. Navy in July 1942. Stan took his Navy air training at Corpus Christi, Texas. Upon completion of training he was assigned to a torpedo-bomber Air Group, VT-51, flying Grumman-General Motors TBM Avenger, a torpedo-bomber, from the carrier San Jacinto in the South Pacific. When World War II ended, Stan was released from active duty as a Navy Lieutenant, with a Distinguished Flying Cross and a Presidential Unit Citation among his service medals. Butchart elected to stay in the Naval Reserve group and flew for an additional 5 years while he attended the University of Washington. By 1950, Stan had earned bachelor degrees in aeronautical engineering and mechanical engineering. After graduation he went to work for Boeing Aircraft as a junior design engineer and was assigned to the B-47 body group. In May 1951, he arrived at the NACA facility to start a career as a research pilot. Stan flew the Douglas D-558-I #3 (12 flights, first on October 19, 1951), the Douglas D-558-II #3 (2 pilot check-out flights, first on June 26, 1953), Northrop X-4 (4 flights, first on May 27, 1952), Bell X-5 (13 flights, first in early December 1952). Other aircraft flown on research projects were the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, Convair CV-990, Boeing B-52-003, Boeing B-747, North American F-100A, Convair F-102, Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche, General Dynamics F-111, Boeing B-720, Convair CV-880, and the Boeing B-47 Stratojet, his favorite. he also flew many other aircraft. Stan did nearly all of the big airplane work at the Center. The biggest work load was flying the Boeing B-29 Stratofortress (Navy designation: P2B). At this time the pilot of the aircraft was the one in charge. It was the pilot who called for the chase planes before drop time, then for the fire trucks to be in position, and he counted down for the launch of the experimental aircraft after making sure everything and everyone was ?ready.? The P2B was used in the launching of the D-558s while the B-29 carried the X-1s to altitude for drops. Stan was pilot of the P2B for 1 drop of the D-558-II #1 (1951 - 1954), 63 drops of the D-558-II #2 (1951 - 1956), and 38 drops of the D-558-II #3 (1951 - 1956). As pilot of the B-29 Stan flew for 1 drop of the Bell X-1A (1955), 13 drops of the Bell X-1B (1956-1958) and 22 drops of the X-1E (1955 - 1958). During the lifting body tow tests Stan was pilot of the R4D that towed the M2-F1 to altitude for release. He made 14 tows in 1966. On June 13, 1966, Stanley P. Butchart became the Chief Pilot at the National Aeronautics and Space Administrations? Flight Research Center and a few weeks
Description
In August 1947, Howard Clifton Lilly became the first permanently assigned NACA engineering test pilot at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics' Muroc Flight Test Unit at what later became Edwards Air Force Base in California. During his assignment at Muroc, he flew both the XS-1 rocket research aircraft and the D-558-1 jet-powered research airplane. On 31 March 1948, Lilly became the third pilot to exceed the speed of sound in the XS-1. Lilly died on 3 May 1948 when the Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak he was flying crashed on takeoff. As the airplane climbed, somewhere within the jet engine's compressor section, a component failed. Sections of the compressor housing and blades cut through the engine casing and the fuselage skin. Some pieces cut the main fuel lines and severed the craft's control lines as well. Lilly had no control over the plane, which wallowed along for a few seconds before slipping into a left yaw and roll, then diving into the Rogers Dry Lakebed and exploding. He became the first NACA test pilot to be killed in the line of duty. At the time of his death, he had flown the Skystreak to a higher Mach number than it had previously reached-Mach 0.88 at 36,000 feet on 29 April 1948. Lilly had trained as a Naval aviator and joined the NACA at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Virginia (later, Langley Research Center) in October 1942. In May 1943 he was assigned to the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio (today's Glenn Research Center), where he flew numerous airplanes in flight research on powerplant systems. He then transferred to Muroc (later, NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center). A native of West Virginia, Lilly was 31 at the time of his death. In honor of the NACA test pilot, the road leading to the Dryden Flight Research Center was named Lilly Avenue. The NACA was a predecessor of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which came into existence on 1 October 1958.
Description
Astronautics (AIAA) and Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Szalai, a Fellow of the AIAA, also served on the National Academy of Science's "Aeronautics-2000" study. Among the awards Szalai has received are NASA's Exceptional Service Medal, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, and the Presidential Meritorious and Distinguished Rank awards. Szalai was born June 1, 1942, in Milwaukee, Wisc., where he graduated from West Division High School.
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