EDWARDS AFB AUTOGRAPH,HAND SIGNED SR-71 Test Pilot- ROGERS SMITH

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EDWARDS AFB AUTOGRAPH,HAND SIGNED SR-71 Test Pilot- ROGERS SMITH:
$14.50

8 X 10 COLOR PHOTO, Signed by SR-71 Test Pilot- ROGERS SMITH A group photo of research aircraft at NASA\'s Ames/Dryden Flight Research Facility in 1993 (redesignated the Dryden Flight Research Center in 1994). Left to right: mock-up of X-15, F-18B, SR-71A, X-31, and X-29. The X-15 mock-up is painted as the #3 aircraft, which was lost on November 15, 1967, in an accident that resulted in the death of Air Force Major Mike Adams. The mock-up is now (2001) atop a pole in front of Dryden\'s main gate.The two-seat F-18B was in use around the turn of the 20th into the 21st century as a chase aircraft for a variety of projects.The SR-71 was one of several transferred to NASA after the aircraft was retired by the Air Force.The X-31 was designed to test flight at high angles of attack using thrust vectoring.The X-29 served as a testbed for forward swept wings. These aircraft and mock-up suggest the great variety of flight research that Dryden Flight Research Center and its predecessor organizations have conducted over more than 50 years since 1946. Rogers E. Smith retired at the end of September 2000 to pursue a career in consulting. At Dryden, he was the Chief of the Flight Crew Branch for a number of years. In this position, often referred to as Chief Pilot, Smith headed the team of 13 research flight crews (including himself) at NASA\'s premier installation for aeronautical research.He had held this position since January 1993 except for a period from July 27, 1998, until March 27, 2000, when he served as the acting director of Flight Operations at Dryden. As acting director, he managed the Avionics, Operations Engineering, Flight Crew, Quality Inspection, Aircraft Maintenance and Modification, and the Shuttle and Flight Operations Support Branches.At the time of his departure from Dryden, Smith was a co-project pilot on the F-15B aeronautical experiment testbed aircraft at Dryden. Among other airplanes, he also flew the F-18 and NASA\'s DC-8 airborne science platform.Smith was associated with NASA\'s Langley Research Center in Virginia in 1967 as a research pilot, and has specialized in the areas of advanced flight control systems, stability and control, and flying qualities throughout his flying career.Before becoming a research pilot at Dryden in 1982, Smith was Chief Pilot for the Calspan Corporation, Buffalo, NY, where he was a project engineer and pilot on the X-22A V/STOL aircraft and on the variable stability NT-33A aircraft.Prior to his current assignments, Smith was a project pilot on the SR-71 and F-15 ACTIVE projects. He has been a project pilot on the X-31 Enhanced Fighter Maneuverability Demonstrator project, and the F-104 aeronautical research aircraft. Since beginning his NASA career, Smith has also been a project pilot on the X-29 Forward Swept Wing, the Advanced Fighter Technology Integration F-16 (AFTI F-16), and the AFTI F-111 Mission Adaptive Wing research p