- Robert A. Rushworth
name =Robert A. Rushworth
type =United States Air Force Astronaut
status =Deceased
nationality =American
date_birth =birth date|1924|10|09
date_death =death date and age|1993|03|17|1924|10|09
place_birth =
place_death =Camarillo, California
occupation =Test Pilot
rank =
selection =1958 MISS Group
time =
mission =X-15 Flight 87
insignia =Robert Aitken Rushworth was a
United States Air Force test pilot for theNorth American X-15 program. Born in Madison,Maine onOctober 9 ,1924 . He studiedmechanical engineering at theUniversity of Maine , receiving a BE in 1951. He received a BS inaeronautical engineering from theAir Force Institute of Technology in 1958. He was selected for the X-15 program in 1958, and made his first flight onNovember 4 ,1960 . Over the next six years, he made 34 flights in the X-15, the most of any pilot. This included a flight to an altitude of 285,000 feet, made onJune 27 ,1963 . This flight above 50 miles qualified Rushworth forastronaut wings , though he would have attained that honor sooner had theMan In Space Soonest project proceeded according to plan.On a later X-15 flight, he was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for successfully landing an
North American X-15 after its nose wheel extended while flying at nearly Mach 5. He made his final X-15 flight onJuly 1 ,1966 , then returned to regular Air Force duties. These included a tour in Vietnam as anF-4 Phantom II pilot, flying 189 combat missions. He also served as the Commander of theAir Force Flight Test Center atEdwards Air Force Base , and as the Commander of the Air Force Test and Evaluation Center atKirtland Air Force Base . At the time of his retirement as a major general, he was Vice Commander, Aeronautical Systems Division, Air Force Systems Command, atWright-Patterson Air Force Base . Rushworth flewC-47 Skytrain s andC-46 s as a transport pilot inWorld War II , as well asF-80C s,F-101 Voodoo s,TF-102 s,F-104 Starfighter s,F-105 Thunderchief s,F-106 Delta Dart s, andF-4 Phantom II s. He also served in theKorean War .Rushworth was a member of the
Society of Experimental Test Pilots , and in 1975 received the SETP'sJames H. Doolittle Award for "outstanding accomplishment in technical management or engineering achievement in aerospace technology". Rushworth retired onJune 1 ,1981 . He died of natural causes inCamarillo, California onMarch 17 ,1993 . In 1994, he was posthumously inducted into theAerospace Walk of Honor References
* 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
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