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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albert Scott Crossfield | 3/3 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Scott_Crossfield | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T13:31:00.977827+00:00 | kb-cron |
Crossfield was played by Scott Wilson in the 1983 film The Right Stuff. Crossfield co-authored Always Another Dawn, a story of a rocket test pilot, with Clay Blair Jr, and authored "Onward and Upward" Research Airplanes, Act II. In 1986 he created and funded the A. Scott Crossfield Aerospace Education Teacher of the Year Award presented annually under the stewardship of the Civil Air Patrol during the National Congress on Aerospace Education later called the National Conference on Aerospace Education (NCASE). After his death in 2006 and the shift of NCASE from an annual to biannual conference, Crossfields's daughter, Sally Crossfield Farley, moved the award to the National Aviation Hall of Fame where it is presented during the Enshrinement Weekend each July in Dayton, Ohio. In the 1991 Discovery Channel series Frontiers of Flight, Crossfield judged he "...probably had more centrifuge time, pressure suit time and pressure chamber time and all of that than any man alive." From 2001 to 2003, Crossfield trained pilots Terry Queijo, Kevin Kochersberger, Chris Johnson and Ken Hyde for The Wright Experience, preparing to fly a reproduction Wright Flyer on the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight on December 17, 1903. The training was successful, but the December 17, 2003 re-creation failed due to low engine power and the flyer's rain-soaked fabric covering which added considerably to its takeoff weight. The Wright replica ultimately flew successfully at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina after the Centennial jubilee but without media coverage. When asked to name his favorite airplane, Crossfield replied, "the one I was flying at the time," because he thoroughly enjoyed them all and their unique personalities.
== Death ==
On April 19, 2006, a Cessna 210A piloted by Crossfield was reported missing while flying from Prattville, Alabama toward Manassas, Virginia, near his home in Herndon. On April 20, authorities confirmed his body was found in the wreckage of his plane in a remote area of Ludville in Pickens County Georgia. There were severe thunderstorms in the area when air traffic controllers lost radio and radar contact with Crossfield's plane. The Gordon County Sheriff's department reported that debris from Crossfield's aircraft was found in three different locations within a quarter mile, suggesting that the plane broke up while it was still in the air. Crossfield was returning from Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama, where he had given a speech to a class of young Air Force officers attending the Air and Space Basic Course. His funeral ceremony was held at the Arlington National Cemetery on August 15, 2006. On September 27, 2007, the National Transportation Safety Board issued a report stating the probable cause of his crash to be as follows: "The pilot's failure to obtain updated en route weather information, which resulted in his continued instrument flight into a widespread area of severe convective activity, and the air traffic controller's failure to provide adverse weather avoidance assistance, as required by Federal Aviation Administration directives, both of which led to the airplane's encounter with a severe thunderstorm and subsequent loss of control."
== Honors == Crossfield received the Lawrence Sperry Award (1954), Octave Chanute Award (1954), Iven C. Kincheloe Award (1960), American Rocket Society (ARS) Astronautics Award (1960), Harmon International Trophy (1961 at the White House by President John F. Kennedy), Collier Trophy (1961 at the White House by President Kennedy in 1962), John J. Montgomery Award (1962), NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal (1993), and was named Honorary Fellow by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) (1999). Crossfield is the only American to be honored in the White House for his contributions in advancing aeronautical science—or any other discipline—more than once, let alone two consecutive years. He has been inducted into the International Aerospace Hall of Fame (1965), National Aviation Hall of Fame (1983), the International Space Hall of Fame (1988), the Virginia Aviation Hall of Fame (1998), Aerospace Walk of Honor (1990), The Glen A. Gilbert Memorial Award (1990), the FAI Gold Air Medal (1994) and the National Air and Space Museum Trophy (2000). Posthumously, he has been awarded the Hoyt S. Vandenberg Award, the Paul Tissandier Diploma, the Victor A. Prather Award, and the Donald D. Engen Award. An elementary school was named in his honor near his last residence, in Herndon, Virginia (a community just northeast of Dulles International Airport). A ribbon named after him is one of the Aerospace Education Awards in the Civil Air Patrol Senior Members program. The terminal at the Chehalis-Centralia Airport (CLS) in Washington state bears his name. He was also most proud of his A. Scott Crossfield Aerospace Education Teacher of the Year Award which is awarded annually at what is known as the "Oscar Night" in aviation, the Annual Enshrinement Ceremony Weekend at the National Aviation Hall of Fame held each year at the end of July in Dayton, Ohio. Crossfield received an honorary doctor of science degree from the Florida Institute of Technology in 1982.
== Legacy == While he was celebrated as a daring test pilot, he claimed that his actual profession was an engineer. "I am an aeronautical engineer, an aerodynamicist and a designer. My flying was only primarily because I felt that it was essential to designing and building better airplanes for pilots to fly." In the 23rd century of the Star Trek universe, Crossfield is honored with the Crossfield-class of starships, one of which, USS Discovery (NCC-1031), is the main setting of Star Trek: Discovery.
== Notes ==
== References == Crossfield, A. Scott; Blair Jr., Clay (1960). Always Another Dawn. Arno Press. ISBN 0-405-03758-9. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) Thompson, Milton O. (1992) At The Edge Of Space: The X-15 Flight Program, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington and London. ISBN 1-56098-107-5
== External links ==
NASA Story on Scott Crossfield's Death Archived 2020-10-27 at the Wayback Machine Original NACA press release on Mach 2 flight Archived 2020-10-20 at the Wayback Machine "X-15 Pilot Biographies". Archived from the original on October 9, 2006. Retrieved July 21, 2004. Spacefacts biography of Albert Scott Crossfield A. Scott Crossfield Elementary School near his former residence Statement by NASA administrator upon his death Archived 2020-10-27 at the Wayback Machine Crossfield Not Warned of Storm article from Washington Post Accident That Killed Famed Aviator Scott Crossfield, NTSB Releases Final Report Scott Crossfield Foundation web site, retrieved March 25, 2008 Arlington National Cemetery Works by Albert Scott Crossfield at Project Gutenberg (Always another dawn: the story of a rocket test pilot)