Legendary Pilot Scott Crossfield Dies In Crash

Capt. Paige Joyner
Director of Public Affairs
Georgia Wing

GEORGIA – The 1960 Cessna 210A aircraft belonging to Col. A. Scott Crossfield of Herndon, Va., has been located. Georgia Wing conducted air and ground searches along the flight path and located the crash site in Gilmer County. There were no survivors.

Crossfield was on a flight from Prattville, Ala., to Manassas, Va., Wednesday morning when the aircraft disappeared from radar in north Georgia.

Col. Scott Crossfield was an aviation pioneer, and CAP aerospace education advocate.

Crossfield, 84, was born in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 2, 1921. Although best known for his role as a legendary test pilot, he was a strong supporter of the Civil Air Patrol and, in particular, CAP’s aerospace education program. He created the A. Scott Crossfield Aerospace Education Teacher of the Year Award to recognize and reward teachers for outstanding accomplishments in aerospace education and for their dedication to the students they teach. The Scott Crossfield Award for senior members is CAP’s highest award in aerospace education. At his 80th birthday in 2001, Crossfield was still flying 200 hours per year as a private pilot/instrument rating.

In 1950, Crossfield joined NASA's predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, and was a research pilot for the next five years at the High Speed Flight Research Station at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Crossfield was the test pilot for numerous research aircraft, including the X-1, X-4, X-5, XF-92, the D-558-I and D-558-II while at Edwards.

On Nov. 20, 1953, he set four speed records before becoming the first man to reach Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound) in the air-launched, rocket-propelled D-558-2. Crossfield capped his distinguished test pilot career as the NASA program manager and first project pilot on the X-15 rocket powered research aircraft, taking the aircraft to the fringes of outer space.

It is possible that no other test pilot in aviation history has test flown as many aircraft that are now displayed in flight museums -- The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Milestones of Flight Gallery includes the #1 X-15 and the #2 Skyrocket. He also flew the #2 Bell X-1, the sister ship of the #1 ("Glamorous Glennis"), which also hangs in the same gallery. Crossfield was also a fighter gunnery instructor in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

Among his countless honors, Crossfield received the Lawrence Sperry Award, Octave Chanute Award, Iven C. Kincheloe Award, Harmon International Trophy and the Collier Trophy. He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1983, the International Space Hall of Fame in 1988, and the Aerospace Walk of Honor in 1990.