CROSSFIELD LOOKS TO 2 ANNIVERSARIES.

Byline: James Skeen Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - Scott Crossfield, who 50 years ago made aviation history by flying twice the speed of sound, is now looking forward to a flight that will barely top 30 mph.

The 82-year-old aviation icon was at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center Friday to talk about his historic flight as well as his work with an organization trying to re-create the Wright Brothers' first flight.

Both the 50 anniversary of the first Mach 2 flight and the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' flight are coming up this fall.

On Nov. 20, 1953 at Edwards Air Force Base, Crossfield flew the experimental D-558-II Douglas Skyrocket to a top speed of 1,291 mph, more than twice the speed of sound.

The flight was, in part, spurred by the aviation community wanting to crack the milestone before the 50th anniversary of the Wright's first powered flight.

Crossfield, then a test pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the predecessor to NASA, said he had the flu on the day the double-supersonic flight was scheduled.

``No way was I going to stop now and let down my crew, NACA, and yes, my country,'' Crossfield said.

Carried aloft beneath a B-29 bomber, the Skyrocket was released at an altitude of 32,000 feet. The airplane climbed to 72,000 feet and then Crossfield made a shallow dive to 62,000 feet, breaking Mach 2.

``The needle passed Mach by half a needle width,'' Crossfied said.

Crossfield said he has been asked many times what the flight felt like, but said he and the team were working so hard there was no time to look at the achievement from a psychological point of view.

``If there's gratification, it's like winning a ballgame,''Crossfield said.

Crossfield is once again working to honor the Wright Brothers, this time as the director of flight operations for The Wright Experience, a Virginia- based nonprofit organization that plans to fly a reproduction of the 1903 Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk on Dec. 17, the 100th anniversary of the first powered flight.

Crossfield said he admires the analytic approach the Wrights, who ran a bicycle shop in Ohio, took in solving the engineering problems of building an airplane.

``Anybody who thinks they were a couple of bicycle mechanics who lucked into an airplane is ignorant,'' Crossfield said.

For the past year, Crossfield has been training the pilots who will be flying the Wright Flyer replica. The pilots are training by using a replica of the 1902 glider the Wright brothers used to prepare themselves for their first powered flight.

The glider takes flight by being towed by a truck. To save the time and energy of developing and installing a tow release, Crossfield hangs onto the tow rope in the back of the truck.

When the glider needs to get higher, Crossfield pulls on the line. When it's time to land, Crossfield drops the line.

Crossfield said the group plans to conduct some flights with the 1903 reproduction prior to the anniversary flight. The anniversary flight will likely attract a great deal of attention and if the team fails, Crossfield said it will ``make the 'agony of defeat' look like kiddie play.''

For the future, Crossfield said the aerospace community should be pursuing the development of an air-breathing craft capable of flying into orbit. By drawing oxygen from the atmosphere instead of carrying it, such a spacecraft would be able to carry more passengers or cargo into space than a conventional rocket.

Such technology could also be applied to a civilian transport aircraft capable of speeds of five times the speed of sound, Crossfield said.

``I spent 20 years peddling that idea. I failed miserably,'' Crossfield told his NASA audience. ``Now, it's your turn.''