Contact: Maridith Geuder
The first man to fly at Mach 2 supersonic speeds will inaugurate the Robert M. Hearin Lecture Series at Mississippi State University.
A. Scott Crossfield of Herndon, Va., speaks Tuesday [Nov. 18] in the Colvard Union small auditorium. The 3:30 p.m. public program is made possible by the Hearin Foundation of Jackson, which recently made a $4.6 million grant to the university's College of Engineering.
"The Hearin Lecture Series is part of the comprehensive educational enhancements we will implement," said Dean A. Wayne Bennett. "It will allow us to bring people of notable accomplishments to campus to broaden the horizons of our students, faculty and campus community."
Crossfield, an aeronautical research pilot in the early 1950s, broke several speed records and became the first to fly Mach 2. He followed the pioneering flights of Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager, the first to fly Mach 1--then called the "sound barrier"-- in 1947.
Crossfield has logged more than 7,000 single-engine flight hours in more than 100 types of aircraft, including military, research and civil. As a research pilot, he participated in the X-1, X-2, X-3, X-4, X-5, and other experimental projects.
While serving as chief engineering test pilot for North American Aviation in the late 1950s and early 1960s, he piloted the first 30 demonstration flights of the X-15. In the 1960s he became a systems director and worked on a number of space projects, including Apollo and Saturn II.
From 1977-93, he served as technical adviser to the House Committee on Science and Technology, advising on civil aviation research and development for NASA and the Federal Aviation Authority.
He now administers the A. Scott Crossfield Aerospace Teacher of the Year Award, which provides $1,000 annually to the winner. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Aerospace Science, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Society of Experimental Test Pilots.
For additional information on the program, telephone aerospace engineering department head John C. McWhorter at (601) 325-3623.