CITY TO RECOGNIZE FIVE NOTABLE PILOTS.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

LANCASTER - An early Blackbird spy plane test pilot, two former NASA pilots, the first man to fly the F-4 Phantom fighter and the man who made the first flight of the XF-91 Thunderceptor are 2003 inductees into Lancaster's Aerospace Walk of Honor.

The 14th annual Aerospace Walk of Honor ceremony on Sept. 20 will induct James Eastham, Robert Little, Bruce Peterson, Russell ``Rusty'' Roth and Rogers Smith. Plaques listing their accomplishments will be mounted on granite monuments along Lancaster Boulevard.

``These folks have soared above the rest,'' said Mayor Frank Roberts. ``They are a breed apart.''

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

Plans for the celebration next month include the Lancaster Aviation air, which will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the monuments' unveiling at 11:30 a.m.

The Aviation Fair is free to the public and will feature music by Dan Devere and the Red Eye Ranch Band, static displays of rocket engines and aircraft, and aviation displays and souvenir stands.

A formal dinner banquet to honor the inductees is scheduled for 6 p.m. that evening at the Park Plaza Convention Center. Tickets for the dinner are $75 per person and can be purchased at the Lancaster Performing Arts Center box office.

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 flight tested three versions of the Blackbird: the YF-12A, the SR-71 and the A-12.

Eastham flew as a test pilot for Hughes Aircraft Company and for what was then Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin. Eastham has logged more than 10,000 hours of flying time.

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.

The World War II veteran rose through the ranks of McDonnell Douglas, ultimately becoming a member of that corporation's board of directors.

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.''

Peterson, a Lancaster resident, retired from NASA in 1981 and joined Northrop's B-2 stealth bomber program. He retired from Northrop in 1994.

Smith, Dryden's chief test pilot from 1993 to 2000, had an international career. Born in British Columbia, Smith served in the Royal Canadian Air Force before coming to the United States in the mid-1960s, serving as instructor pilot at the Naval Test Pilot School and then as research pilot at NASA Langley Research Center in Virginia.

Smith spent 14 years as a test pilot for Calspan Corporation in Buffalo, N.Y., before he joined Dryden in 1982. 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.

Roth logged more than 3,300 hours of flying time, flying such aircraft as the XB-43, the F-86, and Northrop's N9M flying wing.

Roth purchased the Hartwig Realty company of Lancaster in 1964 and operated that business until his death in November 1973.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo:

(1) JAMES EASTHAM

Flew the first flight of the YF-12A

(2) ROBERT LITTLE

Made the first flights of the F-101B and the F-4 Phantom

(3) BRUCE PETERSON

Tested the Rogallo paraglider aircraft

(4) RUSSELL ``RUSTY'' ROTH

Made the first flight of the XF-91 Thunderceptor

(5) ROGERS SMITH

Dryden's chief test pilot from 1993 to 2000