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unusual facts about test pilot


Test Pilot

Test pilot, pilots who work on developing, evaluating and proving experimental aircraft


Curtiss Model H

With Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander John Cyril Porte as Chief Test Pilot, development and testing of the two prototypes proceeded rapidly, despite the inevitable surprises and teething troubles inherent in new engines, hull and fuselage.

Dawn-to-dusk transcontinental flight across the United States

The record was set by 1st Lt. Russell L. Maughan, a U.S. Army Air Service test pilot at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio, the site of the Air Service Engineering Division and its major flight-test center.

Forbes Field Air National Guard Base

It was renamed in honor of Major Daniel Forbes, an Air Force test pilot from Carbondale, Kansas who was killed in a crash of a Northrop YB-49 Flying Wing, which took the lives of all five crew members.

Lothar Sieber

Lothar Sieber (7 April 1922 in Dresden, Germany – 1 March 1945 near Stetten am kalten Markt, Germany) was a German test pilot who was killed in the first vertical take-off manned rocket flight, in a Bachem Ba 349 "Natter".

Northrop XFT

After the 3A and its test pilot, Lieutenant Frank Scare, disappeared without trace on a flight over the Pacific Ocean off California on 30 July 1935, Northrop abandoned the 3A project and sold its blueprints to Chance Vought Aviation.

Robert Kronfeld

Post war, as Chief Test Pilot for General Aircraft, he was killed in the crash of an experimental flying wing glider - the General Aircraft GAL 56 (TS507) - during stalling trials, at Lower Froyle after taking-off from Lasham Airfield.

S. David Griggs

In 1967 Griggs entered the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, Maryland and upon completion of test pilot training was assigned to the Flying Qualities and Performance Branch, Flight Test Division, where he flew various test projects on fighter and attack-type aircraft.

Short Satellite

At the Air Ministry's Two-Seater Light Aeroplane competition at Lympne in 1924, where the Satellite was flown by the company's Chief Test Pilot J. Lankester Parker.

Short Scion

The first flight of the prototype aircraft (G-ACJI) took place on 18 August 1933, piloted by Shorts' Chief Test Pilot John Lankester Parker.

Short Sealand

The prototype Sealand was launched on 19 January 1948 and flew 3 days later from the waters of Belfast Lough, piloted by Shorts' Chief Test Pilot, Harold Piper.

Short Springbok

The first of these S.3a Springbok IIs (numbered J7925-J7927) was flown by Shorts' Chief Test Pilot J. Lankester Parker at the Isle of Grain on 25 March 1925.

Tsunami Racer

First flown August 17, 1986 by test pilot Steve Hinton, Tsunami was designed specifically to break the 3 km world speed record for propeller driven aircraft and to compete in the Unlimited class at the Reno Air Races.

Westland Wyvern

The prototype W.34; the Wyvern TF Mk 1, first flew at Boscombe Down on 16 December 1946 with Westland's test pilot Harald Penrose at the controls.


see also

Albatros L 69

In 1925, Albatros' test pilot Kurt Ungewitter won Class D in the Deutsche Rundflug ("Round Germany") in an L 69a, and he was killed in the crash of one two years later.

André Moynet

Simultaneously he continued his aviation career, as a test pilot, participating in the development of Sud Aviation’s Caravelle.

Berliner Helicopter

There it was flown by Air Service test pilot Harold R. Harris among others, achieving stable hovers of up to 15 feet.

Boulton Paul P.92

The first flight, at Heston Aerodrome, was made by Boulton Paul's chief test pilot Flight Lieutenant Cecil Feather.

Carlton B. Ardery, Jr.

was a former military and later civilian test pilot who flew developmental and test missions for Republic Aviation of Farmingdale, New York.

Caudron G.3

In 1921 Adrienne Bolland, a French test pilot working for Caudron, flew a G.3 across the Andes between Argentina and Chile.

Daniel Raymer

While growing up, his family lived at the in Patuxent River, Maryland, where his father attended test pilot school at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River.

David Fawcett

He was posted to Royal Australian Air Force Aircraft Research and Development Unit (ARDU) at Edinburgh, South Australia as an Army helicopter test pilot.

Dnepropetrovsk maniacs

Vladimir Suprunyuck, Igor Suprunyuck's father, in his interview to Segodnya stated that he had been employed at Yuzhmash as a test pilot, often flying with Leonid Kuchma, the future president of Ukraine, and continuing to serve as his personal pilot on domestic flights after Kuchma's rise to power.

Donald S. Lopez, Sr.

(July 15, 1923 – March 3, 2008) was a U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force fighter and test pilot and until his death the deputy director of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg

Otto Skorzeny, who had been investigating the possibility of using manned torpedoes against Allied shipping, was briefed by Hitler to revive the project, and he contacted famous test pilot Hanna Reitsch.

Fighter Mafia

Boyd, defense analysts Tom Christie and Pierre Sprey, and test pilot Col. Everest Riccioni and aeronautical engineer Harry Hillaker formed the core of the self-dubbed "Fighter Mafia" which worked behind the scenes in the late 1960s to pursue a lightweight fighter as an alternative to the F-15.

Focke-Wulf

Albatros-Flugzeugwerke engineer and test pilot Kurt Tank became head of the technical department and started work on the Fw 44 Stieglitz (Goldfinch).

Ford Flivver

Ford's chief test pilot was Harry J. Brooks, a young employee who had become a favorite of Ford.

François Hussenot

As of today, the EPNER is one of only six, test pilot schools in the world, together with the Empire Test Pilots' School, the United States Air Force Test Pilot School and the United States Naval Test Pilot School, the National Test Pilot School, and the Indian Air Force Test Pilots School.

Furio Niclot Doglio

During the early to mid-1930s, he worked as a test pilot for Italian aircraft manufacturers Compagnia Nazionale Aeronautica (CNA) and Breda.

Gregory H. Johnson

Johnson has been awarded the 2005 Stephen D. Thorne Top Fox Safety Award, the 2005 Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence, McCombs School of Business, NASA Superior Performance Award, and the 1996 Lieutenant General Bobby Bond Award for the top Air Force test pilot.

Grigorovich M-9

On September 17, 1916, the test pilot Jan Nagórski became the first to make a loop with a flying boat.

Gustav Dörr

He returned to duty at Althaus as a test pilot from November 1917 until February 1918, and was awarded an Iron Cross First Class on 22 December 1917.

Hawker Tomtit

It was acquired and restored by Hawkers in 1949 where it became the mount of the their test pilot Neville Duke and was painted in the dark blue company colours.

Hordern-Richmond

Frederick Gordon-Lennox, 9th Duke of Richmond with Edmund Hordern (former test pilot of Heston Aircraft Company Ltd.) originally formed the company with the intention of producing aircraft of their own design, specifically the Hordern-Richmond Autoplane, based at Denham Aerodrome.

Ikarus MM-2

Flight tests conducted pre-test pilot Vasilije Stojanovic as the aircraft showed excellent properties, the Air Force Command has bought the prototype test pilot, which is 4 April 1941 flew in from Zemun in Kraljevo togedet with experiment group Yugoslav Royal Air Force.

Jacques Rosay

He joined Airbus in 1995, and achieved his current position of chief test pilot in 2000.

James M. Kelly

He was selected for Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, Edwards, California, where he graduated in June 1994.

John Wescott Myers

John Wescott Myers (born Los Angeles, California, June 13, 1911 – died Beverly Hills, California, January 31, 2008) was a World War II test pilot who helped develop the P-61 fighter plane.

Joseph Sadi-Lecointe

Between 1925 and 1927 he returned to military service as a volunteer, taking part in the Rif War in Morocco, afterwards returning to his job as chief test pilot with Nieuport Delage.

Lamson Air Tractor

In 1953, Central Aircraft, a crop-spraying company based at Yakima, Washington, went into collaboration with the Lamson Aircraft Company, whose President and designer, Robert L. Lamson was a former test pilot for Boeing, setting up a joint venture, the Central-Lamson Corporation, to design and build a specialized agricultural aircraft, the Air Tractor, one of the first purpose-built aircraft for this role.

Lancashire Aero Club

22 December 1926: John F. Leeming and Bert Hinkler (1892–1933), the chief test pilot of A.V.Roe Avro Manchester, land on Helvellyn in the Lake District (the first aeroplane to land on a mountain in Great Britain)

Leiston

Famous American test pilot and fighter ace General Chuck Yeager (who, later, first broke the sound barrier) flew out of RAF Leiston.

Longmont High School

Vance D. Brand – Former NASA astronaut, test pilot, mission commander and engineer

Louis Wescott Myers

He married Blanche Brown of Michigan; they had at least two children, Elizabeth Myers and test pilot John Wescott Myers.

Marine Corps Air Station Eagle Mountain Lake

In 1959, the severely deteriorated buildings were used in a science fiction film entitled Beyond the Time Barrier, in which the protagonist, an Air Force test pilot, travels into the future on a supersonic airplane and returns to find that the air base from which he took off is in ruins.

Mikoyan MiG-29K

The MiG-29Ks first flight was performed on 23 July 1988 at Saky by test pilot Toktar Aubakirov.

Nether Compton

Harald Penrose (1904-1996), British test pilot and aviation author, lived in Nether Compton for more than 50 years in a house of his own design.

Pamela Melroy

Upon her graduation, she was assigned to the C-17 Combined Test Force, where she served as a test pilot until her selection for the astronaut program.

Pavel Argeyev

Reluctant to return to the USSR, he continued flying as a test pilot and was killed on October 20, 1922 near Trutnov, Czechoslovakia when his Potez aircraft crashed in the Sudetes mountains.

Perlan Project

Einar Enevoldson, former NASA test pilot and originator of The Perlan Project, sought to demonstrate the feasibility of riding these stratospheric standing mountain waves.

Pete Knight High School

The high school was named after test pilot and politician William Joseph "Pete" Knight.

Peter Knight

William J. Knight (1929–2004), American test pilot, astronaut and politician nicknamed "Pete"

Richard E. Gray

In November 1981 he became a research test pilot at NASA's Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility (as Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, was called from 1981 to 1994).

Ryan XV-5 Vertifan

One was destroyed in a crash during a public flight demonstration on 27 April 1965, killing Ryan test pilot Lou Everett.

Savoia-Marchetti SM.81

Around six months after the SM.73s first appearance, the SM.81 prototype (MM.20099) first flew from Vergiate, near Varese, on 8 February 1935, controlled by test pilot Adriano Bacula.

Sopwith Triplane

The prototype Triplane, serial N500, first flew on 28 May 1916, with Sopwith test pilot Harry Hawker at the controls.

Steve Wittman

From 1925 to 1927, he had his own flying service, giving joyrides and during this time also became a demonstration and test pilot for the The Pheasant Aircraft Company and Dayton Aircraft Company, flying the Pheasant H-10 in multiple events.

William Ellsworth Kepner

In August 1929 he was commissioned as test pilot of the radical metal-hulled airship ZMC-2, newly completed at Grosse Ile, Michigan.

William Thayer

W. Paul Thayer (1919–2010), American test pilot, aviation executive, and Deputy Secretary of Defense during the Reagan Administration