Bill Modesitt

The Mission: To research, record and preserve the personal histories of the young people from here in the Fox Valley, the Midwest, who played a vital role in merging land speed racing and hot rodding creating modern drag racing. And simultaneously noting the positive benefits that accrued to the lives and avocations of these young people by the very nature of their activities and labors at the track. Jay Thompson

"If everything seems under control, you're not just not going fast enough." - Mario Andretti

Aviation Pioneer A. Scott Crossfield Killed in Plane

A. Scott Crossfield, 84, left Prattville, Ala. around 9 a.m. Wednesday morning April 19, in his Cessna 210A headed for the airport in Manassas, Va., located hear his home in Herndon, Va. He had been talking to graduating cadets at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala. about his experiences.

He was reported missing two hours later after his plane dropped from radar while flying at 11,500 feet. The next day he was found dead in his crashed plane in a heavily forested gully of the mountainous region some 50 miles northwest of Atlanta. The plane�s wreckage fell in two areas about a mile apart. It appears the plane broke up in the storm. He was alone on the flight.

There was a severe storm with thunderstorms in the area. The turbulence in a severe thunderstorm can destroy an aircraft. A woman who lives near the crash site said she heard the plane having trouble in the storm. "He was trying to turn and he just went down."

Crossfield�s fame comes from being the first pilot to fly twice the speed of sound in 1953 and when in 1959 he flew the X-15 rocket plane to the edge of space (72,00 feet) reaching a speed close to three times the speed of sound.

He still loved to fly and flew at least once a week. He had a private hangar for his Cessna at the Manassas Regional Airport where he maintained the plane himself.

I had the honor of meeting Crossfield when he played a key role for Ken Hyde of the Wright Experience in Warrenton, Va. He served as a key technical advisor and flight instructor in preparation for re-enacting the Wright brothers first flight on the 100th anniversary of the event at Kitty Hawk in 2003.

The Wright Experience researched and constructed a reproduction of the 1903 machine.

Crossfield was an ideal advisor because he had an advanced degree in Aeronautical Engineering as well as experience. He envied the Wright brothers because they could be involved in the entire engineering process from design to construction to flight.

Crossfield enjoyed working on the X-15 because, "I was very fortunate in being able to complete that whole circle."

One of the most interesting functions he served with the Wright Experience was the training of the pilots to operate the 1903 Wright Flyer. All four were pilots but that may have been more of a handicap than being helpful. One had to start all over again to learn how to pilot the Flyer. They started with learning how to fly a glider first.

This task demonstrated Crossfield�s great versatility. He flew the X-15 at a speed of almost Mach 3 and was able to teach pilots to fly the Wright Flyer that flies at about Mach 0.05.

As time drew closer to the centennial, the four pilot candidates were cut from four to two. The winners were Kevin Kochersberger and Terry Queijo.

I met Crossfield and the pilots while they were practicing flying the reproduction flyer that would fly on December 17 at the National Wright Brothers Memorial. They were at the famous site to continue their practicing.

Kochersberger made the first successful flight with the reproduction Flyer on Nov. 20th.

I was there on Nov, 25th. Unfortunately, that was the day that Terry Queijo crashed the Flyer while trying to take off.

I observed that the front end rose too fast and too steep. It stalled and just as suddenly slammed into the soft sand. The whole sequence only took a second or two. Queijo was clearly shaken and had a mouth full of sand but thankfully otherwise emerged unhurt except for her pride.

Here is where I observed the character of Crossfield up close. He was not berating her for damaging the Flyer. Rather, he was talking to her like her grandfather might have talked to her. He was very calm and reassuring; a true gentleman. He was a grandfather with seven grandchildren.

I shot the picture at left moments after the crash. Crossfield is the one with the pointed hood facing the camera. Queijo is facing him on his immediate right (your left).

The flyer, after repairs, was back in the air Wednesday Dec. 4th. This 3rd flight, piloted by Kochersberger, lasted 12 seconds and went 115 feet, only 5 feet short of Orville�s famous first flight.

One of the other things I did was to get Crossfield�s autograph. It is something that I keep in a cherished place.

The most interesting function he served was the training of the pilots to operate the 1903 Wright Flyer. All four were pilots but that may have been more of a handicap than being helpful. One had to start all over again to learn how to pilot the Flyer. They started with learning how to fly a glider first.

As time drew closer to the centennial, the four pilot candidates were cut from four to two. The winners were Kevin Kochersberger and Terry Queijo.

Kochersberger made the first successful flight with the reproduction Flyer on Nov. 20th.

I was there on Nov, 25th. Unfortunately, that was the day that Terry Queijo crashed the Flyer while trying to take off.

I shot the picture at left moments after the crash. Crossfield is the one with the pointed hood facing the camera. Queijo is facing him on his immediate right (your left).

The flyer, after repairs, was back in the air Wednesday Dec. 4th. This 3rd flight, piloted by Kochersberger, lasted 12 seconds and went 115 feet, only 5 feet short of Orville's famous first flight.

One of the other things I did was to get Crossfield's autograph. It is something that I keep in a cherished place.

Crossfield, A. Scott (born 1921).

Piloted such research aircraft as D-558-II, X-4, X-5, and X-15. Was first pilot to exceed Mach 2 and first to surpass Mach 3 and survive. Helped form Society of Experimental Test Pilots. Won Collier Trophy and SETP's Iven Kincheloe Award. Developed advanced flight controls. 1983.

With the development of jet-powered flight, a new series of record-breaking speed flights began as soon as the planes were available. The first achievement was to fly faster than the speed of sound (760 miles per hour [1,223kph1 at sea level, although that number falls as the altitude is increased until it is 659 miles per hour [1,060.Skph] at thirty-six thousand feet [10,973m]), designated Mach 1 meaning compared as a ratio to the speed of sound after Ernst Mach, the nineteenth-century physicist who worked out some of the physics involved in transonic� flight.

On October 14, 1947, Charles E. Chuck Yeager, a decorated American ace, became the first flyer to officially �break the sound barrier by flying at Mach 1.015 (or 670 miles per hour [1,O78kph]) at forty-two thousand feet [12,801.5m]) in the experimental Bell X-1. Yeager named the airplane the Glamorous Glennis, after his wife. Pilots in Korea who took their aircraft near Mach 1 experienced a violent buffeting, and several lost their lives when their planes broke up. Yeager had encountered the same thing as he neared Mach 1, but once past it, he experienced an eerie quiet as he raced ahead of the noise and shock wave his airplane was creating.

The is very strong evidence that the sound barrier was first broken by pilots flying the Me 262 at the end of the Second World War.

In 1951 famed test pilot Bill Bridgeman flew a Douglas Skyrocket to Mach 1.88, demonstrating that several existing engines would be capable of taking an aircraft above Mach 1, and establishing Mach 2 as the next goal of the speed fliers. Meanwhile, research at NACA at Langley Field had reached an obstacle: airplane designs that were supposed to be able to break Mach 1 were falling consistently short. There had been speculation in the late 1940s that it might be impossible to break the sound barrier (that was why it was called a barrier), and the early tests of the Convair F-102 gave some credence to this fear.

Foss, Joe (born 1915).

Was second leading Marine Corps ace in World War II. Received Medal of Honor. Established South Dakota Air National Guard. Was National President of Air Force Association. 1984.

In January 1, 2003, �the greatest generation lost one of its leading lights, America lost a true hero, and The Museum of Flight lost a good friend. Brig. Gen. Joe Foss�the legendary World War II Marine Corps fighter pilot�passed away at the age of eighty-seven.

Joseph Jacob Foss was born on a farm near Sioux Falls, S.D., in April 1915. On graduation from the University of South Dakota, Joe entered the Marine Corps and received his wings and officer's commission on March 29, 1941.

By October 9th of the following year, Joe found himself on the embattled island of Guadalcanal as a Wildcat pilot assigned to the desperate defense of strategic Henderson Field. Joe quickly found his form, downing his first Japanese Zero only four days after his arrival. Five days after that, Joe

had become an ace, and when he was evacuated to a rear area in late November due to malaria, his score stood at twenty-three�an astounding total for such a short time in combat.

Joe returned to combat briefly in January 1943, scored three more victories, and was then rotated stateside, where President Franklin D. Roosevelt awarded him the Medal of Honor. Joe ended the war as the eighth-ranked American ace and the highest-ranked Marine Corps pilot.

Joe left the Marines in 1946 and returned to South Dakota, where he helped found the state�s Air National Guard, an organization he eventually commanded as a brigadier general. He ultimately entered politics and served two terms in the state house and two terms as governor.

Throughout his life, Joe put others before himself, and when he fell ill last fall, he had just embarked on what he referred to as his final mission: through the Joe Foss Institute, Joe sought to instill in school children an appreciation for military history, patriotism and the sacrifices of veterans by sending veterans into classrooms across the nation. Although Joe is gone, this vital work will continue, perpetuating a legacy of service that he established over almost nine rich decades of life.

I write about Joe Foss here because so much of what he stood for is represented in our plans for the new Personal Courage Wing. The aircraft and exhibits that will be housed there will pay eloquent tribute to the many men and women like Joe Foss who put love of their country and loyalty to their cause above concern for personal well-being. The education programs that we will develop around these artifacts and exhibits will bring alive for generations to come the valor and honor of those whose sacrifices purchased the freedoms we enjoy.

I have written many times that what the Museum is really all about is not airplanes but aviation people and their amazing, inspiring stories. Few stories are as amazing or as inspiring as that of Joe Foss. He will be sorely missed there is no mistaking that. But equally clearly, his final mission must still be flown. We are honored to play a role in such a noble undertaking.