Dad and Scott

—  Vicki Burton (Knepper)      

My Dad was flight test supervisor @ Edwards AFB back in the day. I'd watch Dad cry over a glass of whiskey after losing a pilot during flight tests. Jeez... so many... before the days of wind tunnels and computer data. As Dad said, "We proved flight limits by breaking things (like wings)"...Dad skipped planet in 2001. He wrote his memoirs before he passed to be with his buddies and God. Here's the chapter he had to say about Mr. Crossfield:

Scott Crossfield was a slender intellectual, and I believe he was the first engineer to serve as a test pilot. With the increasing technology of aviation, having an engineer at the controls provided great insight into the technological problems encountered during test flights. Scott was named Chief Test Pilot for the X-15 project. The X-15 was an experimental rocketship that was launched at an altitude of about 50,000 feet from the belly of a B-52. The rockets would then boost the vehicle's speed after a brief sling-shot into outer space.

..The rocket was designed to land on 'dry lake' desert flats at very high speeds using landing wheels or skids attached to the bottom... On one flight, the X-15 went faster and further and harder. One flight, while landing at Rosamond Dry Lake at very high speed, Scott ....the craft broke in two - Scott had broken bones and bruises...As soon as the crew repaired the ship... the usually quiet and unemotional Scott broke out singing, " Oh, I'm back in the saddle again!"...