Albert Scott Crossfield, Jr., was born at Berkeley, California, 2 October 1921, the son of an oil company executive. (“Scott Crossfield” is the family name, going back for many generations.)

A Pilot Is Born

At the age of 5 years, the younger Scott Crossfield contracted pneumonia. He was comatose for a time and not expected to survive.

When he finally began to recover, he was confined to bed for many months. The effects of this illness lasted throughout his childhood.

It was during this time that he developed his interest in aviation.

He learned to draw, studied airplanes, and built scale models.

One day, Charles F. (“Carl”) Lienesch, who was a pilot for the Union Oil Company, gave Scotty his first ride aboard an airplane at age the young age of 6.

Scotty was hooked!

Scotty began taking flying lessons when he was twelve (without informing his parents). Paying for the lessons by washing airplanes, he was seventeen when he made his first solo flight.

Later on his family bought a farm in Oregon, and Scott Crossfield continued flight lessons and soloed a Curtis Robin at the age of 15.

1929 Curtis Robin J-1 like the one Scott Crossfield learned to fly in.

He earned his private pilot certificate at the age of 18.

After graduating from high school, “Scotty” helped his father with the family farm before attending the University of Washington as a student of aeronautical engineering.

He took a job at Boeing to pay his tuition and to support himself.

Curtis Robin Specifications:

• Crew: 1;
• Maximum Take Off Weight: 2,360 pounds;
• Length: 25 feet 6 inches;
• Wingspan: 41 feet 0 inches;
• Height: 8 feet 0 inches;
• Maximum Speed: 118 mph;
• Cruise speed: 100 mph;
• Rate of climb: 750 feet per minute;
• Range: 338 miles;
• Service ceiling: 13,000 feet;
• Engine: 165hp Wright J-6-5 Whirlwind radial piston engine.

Scott Joins The USAAC

After America’s entry into World War II, Scott Crossfield enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet, but he quickly learned that there delays in training because of the number of cadets.

He quickly decided to transfer to the U.S. Navy on February 21, 1942.  Scott enlisted as a Seaman 2/c in the Navy’s V-5 Program at the Naval Reserve Aviation Base, Seattle, Washington.

A Recruitment Poster on the USN V5 Flight Training Program.

On May 7, 1942 Scott Crossfield Jr. began Primary Flight Training at the USN Facility in Seattle, Washington.

By December of 1942 Crossfield had completed the military flight training and was commissioned an Ensign, United States Navy.

During World War II, Scott went on to serve as a fighter pilot, flight and gunnery instructor, flying the Chance Vought F4U Corsair and Grumman F6F Hellcat.

Scott Corssfield was assigned to Fighting Squadron FIFTY-ONE (VF-51) aboard the Independence-class light aircraft carrier  USS Langley (CVL-27), however, he never served in combat.

The U.S. Navy light aircraft carrier USS Langley (CVL-27) underway off Cape Henry, Virginia (USA), with two North American SNJ Texan training planes on her flight deck, 6 October 1943.

On 21 April 1943, Ensign Albert Scott Crossfield, U.S. Navy, married Miss Alice Virginia Knoph at Corpus Christi, Texas.

IOn March 21, 1944 Scott was prromoted to lieutenant (junior grade), and on August 1, 1945 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant..

On the 31st of December, 1945, Scotty was released from active but continued his service when he  joined a Naval Reserve squadron and flew the Goodyear Aircraft Co. FG-1D Corsair at NAS Sand Point, Washington.

FG-1D Corsair in flight like the one flown by Lt. Scott Crossfield in WWII.

Scott Goes To College

During this time he resumed his education at the University of Washington and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering in 1949, and a master’s degree in 1950.

As a graduate student he was the operator of the university’s Kirsten Aeronautical Laboratory wind tunnel.

Kirsten Aeronautical Laboratory wind tunnel at the University of Washington.

Capabilities of the Kirsten Wind Tunnel

• Air Speeds: 5-200 MPH (90 m/s, 295 ft/s);
• Dynamic Pressures: 0.07-100 psf;
• Flow Angularity: Upflow = -0.012°, Crossflow = 0.0°;
• Turbulence Intensity: 0.72%;
• Test Section: 8' tall, 12' wide, 10' long (2.44x3.66x3.05m);
• External Balance Limits:
• Lift: ±2500 lbs       ±11120 N;
• Drag: ±250 lbs      ±1112 N;
• Side: ±250 lbs       ±1112 N;
• Pitching: ±5000 in-lbs      ±564.9 N-m;
• Yawing: ±5000 in-lbs      ±564.9 N-m;
• Rolling: ±5000 in-lbs      ±564.9 N-m.
• Model Positioning: Fully automated pitch and yaw accurate to ±0.02°;
• Data Reduction: Semi-corrected plots of data available in real-time. A separate data set with final corrections is produced as appropriate with customer input.;
• Flow Visualizations: Smoke, oils, china clay, sublimation, UV minitufts;
• Electronic Pressure Scanning: Scanivalve EPS Modules: one 64-Port Dual Bank Module (±0.007psi) and one 32-Port Single Bank Module (±0.005psi);
• Test Types: Scale-model aircraft, scale-model ground vehicles, UAVs, bicycles, motorcycles, racing yacht keels.

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics 

In 1950 Scott Crossfield joins the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA, the predecessor of NASA) as an Aeronautical Research Pilot at the NACA High Speed Flight Station, Edwards Air Force Base, California.

He flew many high-performance jet aircraft like the North American Aviation F-100 Super Sabre, and experimental airplanes such as the Convair XF-92, Douglas X-3, Bell X-4 and X-5.

He also flew the research rocket planes, making 10 rocket flights in the Bell X-1 and 77 in the Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket.

The Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket

The Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket

The D-558-II “Skyrocket” was carried aloft by a Boeing P2B-1S Superfortress drop ship (a four-engine B-29 long range heavy bomber which had been transferred from the U.S. Air Force to the Navy, then heavily modified by Douglas) to 32,000 feet (9,754 meters) and then released.

Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket, Bu. No. 37974, is dropped from Boeing P2B-S1 Superfortress..

On 20 November 1953, Scott Crossfield became the first pilot to fly faster than twice the speed of sound (Mach 2).

Scotty fired the LR8 rocket engine and climbed to 72,000 feet (21,945 meters). He put the Skyrocket into a shallow dive and, still accelerating, passed Mach 2 at 62,000 feet (18,898 meters).

After the rocket engine’s fuel was expended, he flew the rocketplane to a glide landing on Rogers Dry Lake.

North Amereican Aviation, Inc.

In 1955 Crossfield left NACA and joined North American Aviation, Inc., as Chief Engineering Test Pilot.

He planned and participated in the design and operation of the X-15 hypersonic research rocketplane for the Air Force and NASA.

He also worked closely with the David Clark Co., in the development of the project’s full-pressure suits.

In the June 2021, issue of the University of Washington magazine wrote an article about "The Death Dodger", A. Scott Crossfield.

In 1959–1960, Scott Crossfield flew all of the contractor’s demonstration phase flights for the X-15, including 16 captive carry flights under the wing of the NB-52A Stratofortress while systems were tested and evaluated, one glide flight, and thirteen powered flights.

He reached a a maximum altitude of 88,116 feet (26,858 meters) on Flight 6, and a maximum speed of Mach 2.97 (1,960 miles per hour/3,154 kilometers per hour) on Flight 26.

The X-15 was then turned over to NASA and the Air Force. The X-15 Program involved a total of 199 flights from 1959 until 1968.

After leaving the X-15 Program, Scott Crossfield continued as a Systems Director with North American Aviation, Inc., working on the Apollo Command and Service Module and the S-IVB second stage of the Saturn V rocket.

He left North American in the late ’60s and served as an executive with Eastern Air Lines and Hawker Siddeley and as a aeronautical engineering consultant to private industry and government.

Among many other awards, Scott Crossfield was received the Harmon Trophy, the Collier Trophy, and the Iven C. Kincheloe Award of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots..

Scott Resumes Flying

In 1980 Crossfield resumed flying when he purchased a 1960 Cessna 210A Centurion, N6579X, serial number 21057579.

Scott Crossfield’s Cessna 210A Centurion, N6579X, at Santa Monica Airport, California, 9-26-99.

This was a single-engine, four-place light airplane, powered by an air-cooled Continental six-cylinder engine.

He had flown more than 2,000 hours in this airplane when it crashed during a severe thunderstorm on April 19th,2006, while on a flight from Prattville, Alabama, to Manassas, Virginia.

The first man to fly twice the speed of sound, ScottCrossfield was found dead inside the wreckage of teh Cessna 210 airplane he had been flying on Wednesday morning from Alabama to Virginia, authorities toldthe Associated Press.

Crossfield's Cessna 210A was found by search crews in themountains northwest of Atlanta, Georgia on Thursday after radio and radarcontact was lost at 11:15 a.m. EDT (1515 GMT) the day before.

There were thunderstorms reported in the area, though the cause of the crash was notimmediately released.

"Scott Crossfield was a pioneer and a legend in theworld of test flight and space flight," said Mike Coats, Johnson SpaceCenter Director. "The astronaut corps and all of NASA are deeply saddenedby his death, but his legacy will be with us through the centuries."

His remains are interred at the Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.

I hope you enjoyed this trip through some of the history of aviation. If you enjoyed this trip, and if you are new to this newsletter, sign up to receive your own weekly newsletter here: Subscribe here!

Until next time, keep your eyes safe and focused on what's ahead of you, Hersch!