Legendary NASA test pilot Bill Dana dies at 83

[bananas]

Source: Los Angeles Times

William H. "Bill" Dana, the famed NASA test pilot who helped usher in the space age in the 1960s by routinely flying rocket planes to new supersonic speeds and stratospheric heights, has died. He was 83.

Dana was a square-jawed aviator during an age when pilots strapped into cutting-edge aircraft and blasted it to the edges of the flight envelope -- with little assurance they would return safely. It was an era chronicled in "The Right Stuff," Tom Wolfe’s 1979 book (and later a movie) about the early days of the space program.

He died Tuesday after a lengthy illness at an assisted living facility in suburban Phoenix. His death was announced Wednesday by NASA officials.

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Several of the aircraft Dana piloted now hang in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington. However, he is perhaps most associated with the X-15 rocket plane program, which demonstrated it was possible for a winged aircraft to fly to -- and from – space. It was a feat that came 19 years before the space shuttle.

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After earning a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from USC in 1958, he joined NASA as an aeronautical research engineer at the High-Speed Flight Station at Edwards Air Force Base -- now NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center – in the Mojave Desert.

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Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/aerospace/la-fi-mo-bill-dana-death-20140507-story.html

[bananas]

1. NASA test pilot Bill Dana, flew X-15 rocket plane into space, dies at 83

http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-050714a-obituary-bill-dana-pilot.html

NASA test pilot Bill Dana, flew X-15 rocket plane into space, dies at 83

May 7, 2014 – Bill Dana didn't receive his astronaut wings until almost 40 years after he flew in space.

Dana, who on Tuesday (May 6) died at the age of 83, flew the X-15 rocket plane on two flights that exceeded the Air Force-defined space boundary of 50 miles (80 kilometers) in 1966 and 1968. But, as he was a NASA research pilot and the space agency at the time did not issue wings to its pilots, Dana was not formally awarded his astronaut status until a NASA ceremony in 2005.

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Dana was first hired as an aeronautical research engineer at NASA's then-High-Speed Flight Station on Oct. 1, 1958, the same day the space agency was established. His first assignments included development of an X-15 rocketplane performance simulator, and stability and control research involving the F-107A fighter prototype.

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Dana flew the X-15 16 times, including the 199th and final flight of the research program. His two astronaut-qualifying flights reached 58.1 and 50.6 miles (93.5 and 81.4 km).

"The horizon appeared as a ring of bright blue around the shell of the Earth, with darkness above," Dana recalled in a 2007 NASA interview. "I knew I'd gotten all the altitude I needed to qualify as a space adventurer!"

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After the X-15, Dana was assigned to fly the HL-10, M2-F3, and X-24B lifting body aircraft to validate engineers' assertions that such vehicles could be precisely controlled during approach and landing, and providing NASA with the confidence needed to proceed with designs for the space shuttle.

In addition, Dana flew hundreds of research test flights in advanced jet fighters including the F-14, F-15, F-16, and YF-17. He performed a guest pilot evaluation of the X-29 forward-swept-wing technology demonstrator and flew the F-18 High Alpha Research Vehicle, the first aircraft to use multi-axis thrust vectoring for vehicle control.

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[jtuck004]

2. An era?

"Dana was a square-jawed aviator during an age when pilots strapped into cutting-edge aircraft and blasted it to the edges of the flight envelope -- with little assurance they would return safely."

Over 200,000 people have submitted requests to be considered for Mars colonization flights starting in 2023. They will not return, and the first few might die.

here.

Doesn't take away from his bravery that there are other people with the same affliction.

[RufusTFirefly]

3. Here's another famous pilot named Bill Dana

Strangely enough, I had never heard of the Bill Dana who just died.

Odd coincidence.



Michael Jackson: (l) studies anthropology (r) anthropological study

[Brother Buzz]

5. Jinx!

[RufusTFirefly]

6. Oddly enough, "our" Dana was mentioned in Tom Wolfe's book. The other guy wasn't. n/t

[dflprincess]

7. First one I thought of! n/t

[Brother Buzz]

4. Let's be clear, don't confuse him with this Bill Dana