Interesting article in Esquire magazine about the pioneering American test pilot from the golden age of aviation.
He competed with and lost to Chuck Yeager to be first person to break the sound barrier. Anyone who's read the Right Stuff knows Crossfield.
Crossfield was a civilian test pilot in the '50s and '60s who flew the famous X planes, particularly the X-15, to world altitude and speed records.
He recently died in a light plane crash that he was piloting alone. He was in his 80s and was a pioneeering aviator who took the famed X-15 rocket plane to the ragged edge of its capabilities.
He also developed the high altitude pressure suit used by astronauts to prevent their blood from boiling and being squeezed out of their bodies.
TrueNorthMan7 Forum Posts (1,096)
RE: Bout time this was said!!!
Well said, Scott. A lot of it is demographics.