Forever Friends
— Judy Rice
"Ladies don't talk like that," a gentleman’s voice said quietly in my ear. Not recognizing the gentleman, I gave pause just long enough to be distracted from my immediate mission. My sights had been on the individual leaving the stage.
The gentleman at my ear continued to explain in a quiet, easy manner that the individual leaving the stage was one of those famed aviators who always had folks clamoring after him. I quickly snapped back to him in spite of his soft, gentle eyes that it was no reason for the famed aviator to make a child cry! I continued stating that all the boy wanted was an autograph and the @#$@^ famed aviator could have just #@((&* taken a moment.
The famous aviator and his escort continued to walk right past the crying boy, me, and the soft spoken gentleman without even a nod. The soft spoken gentleman introduced himself and said, "Hello, I am your next guest speaker, Scott Crossfield.” Before climbing the stage stairs, he added, "It has just become my mission in life to help you talk like a lady."
On a hot Wisconsin summer day in 1998, we became forever-friends.
Scott had a special quality - anyone meeting him felt as though they were lifetime friends. Humble is the quality that most would describe when asked of their impressions after meeting him.
However, watch his eyes change from humble to passionate when he would talk about his test pilot days. Fire would burn in those graying eyes! In one of our conversations he shared with me his boyhood experiences growing up on the family farm. He explained how later in life he had applied some of these experiences to the way he designed aircraft. He proudly described how he worked the farm fields, noting the long hours spent in a tractor seat. When it came time to design the X-15 seat he found as many tractor seats that were made and sat in all of them. The result was a comfortable, practical X-15 seat.
His eyes would be filled with a warm glow of adoration and love as he spoke of his wife, Alice. He admired her stamina and her sense of humor. After all, he said, she put up with him AND raised 6 children! He said he was a typical test pilot back in those days and she had the patience of an angel.
Alice encouraged Scott to renew his love of flying little airplanes. With her support Scott purchased his beloved Cessna 210A. He often described N6579X as his true-love, and he would fret over each idiosyncrasy of this early model C210 as would a doting mother over a child’s.
He had lusted over a three-blade prop for some time and I recall vividly the winter day when he proudly called to announce he had just replaced the two bladed prop. Scott's idea of relaxing was to be fussing over his airplane in the hangar; or shoveling snow and mowing grass on his well-maintained Virginia home.
Walking the National Air and Space Museum with Scott was an experience unto itself. He would point at one of the airplanes and pause as he would softly retell the moments spent in the cockpit. Or, he might explain one of the design characteristics he worked through. He often said that he did not know if he became an engineer in order to fly the airplanes he had designed; or to design the airplanes he would fly.
To share flying with Scott was a moment of its own. Safety was always foremost in his mind, and he continually queried me and made me think beyond the obvious. He often would scold me for not doing this, or for doing that. Once, as we caressed my beautifully waxed airplane, he asked me if it was as beautiful an airplane inside as it appeared on the outside.
Most know Scott Crossfield as the first man to fly twice, and then three times, the speed of sound. Some may know of his World War II instructor time with the Navy or some may know of his work with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Of course, he is well known for flying the X-15 to the edge of space.
All knew Scott Crossfield as a humble man. Those who flew with him knew him as one of the greatest aviators.
For me, Scott is forever my friend.