AVIATION FAIR TO CELEBRATE 5 TEST PILOTS.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Thousands of aviation enthusiasts are expected Saturday to watch the induction of the five newest honorees of the Aerospace Walk of Honor and to celebrate the first 100 years of flight.

Marking the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' 1903 flight, an aviation street fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. will feature displays of rocket engines, airplanes and models, souvenir stands and music from Dan Devere and his Red Eye Ranch Band.

``Instead of parents bringing the kids, we want the kids to bring the parents,'' said city spokeswoman Anne Aldrich. ``The street fair is designed around the kids.''

The festival and monument unveiling will take place in Boeing Plaza at Sierra Highway and Lancaster Boulevard.

Displays will be hosted by such organizations as the Civil Air Patrol, Experimental Aircraft Association and the women's pilots group the 99s as well as by Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and Northrop Grumman Corp.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Edwards Air Force Base will also participate, city officials said.

At 11:30 a.m., city officials will unveil the new granite monument honoring this year's five honorees: test pilots James D. Eastham; Robert C. Little; Bruce A. Peterson; Russell M. ``Rusty'' Roth, who is deceased; and Rogers E. Smith.

At 12:15 p.m., an F-117 stealth fighter will fly over the festivities. The aircraft will be piloted by Lt. Col. Jim Bierstine, commander of the 410th Flight Test Squadron based at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale.

The celebration will be capped by a black-tie banquet dinner in honor of the new inductees at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Park Plaza Convention Center at Jackman Street and 10th Street West. Tickets for this evening event are $75 and can be purchased at the Lancaster Performing Arts Center Box Office.

Each year the Walk honors five test pilots with ties to Edwards Air Force Base who have made outstanding contributions to aerospace. This year's celebration will bring the number of pilots honored to 70.

Eastham is perhaps best known as the man who in 1963 flew the first flight of the YF-12A, a proposed fighter version of the Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft. A Korean War veteran, Eastham tested three versions of the Blackbird: the YF-12A, the SR-71 and the A-12.

Little, a test pilot for McDonnell Douglas Corp., made the first flights of the F-101B and the F-4 Phantom, a jet that saw extensive use during the Vietnam War. Little logged more than 4,000 hours of flying time as a test pilot.

Peterson's career at what is now NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards included flight testing the Rogallo paraglider aircraft, which was used to study the feasibility of using an inflatable wing for landing spacecraft, and ``lifting-body'' aircraft - wingless aircraft that contributed to the space shuttle program and to today's research for a new manned spacecraft.

Peterson's lifting-body research ended in a May 1967 crash. Footage of that crash was later used in the opening credits of the 1970s TV show ``The Six Million Dollar Man.''

Smith was the Dryden Flight Research Center's chief test pilot from 1993 to 2000. At Dryden, he flew a variety of research aircraft, including the X-29 and the SR-71 Blackbird.

In 1997, Smith participated in an exchange program with Russia and flew Su-30, MiG-29 and MiG-25 aircraft. He also flew the Swedish Gripen and the Eurofighter.

Roth is best known for making the first flight of the XF-91 Thunderceptor, the prototype of what was to have been the nation's first rocket-boosted jet fighter. Roth flew the aircraft on Dec. 9, 1952, at Edwards. The plane was never put into production.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo:

(1) EASTHAM

(2) LITTLE

(3) PETERSON

(4) ROTH

(5) SMITH