FORMER EDWARDS CHIEF JOINS HONOREES.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - As a boy growing up in Louisiana, Doug Pearson counted test pilots like Chuck Yeager and Pete Knight among his heroes.

On Saturday, Pearson will join those men as an aviation hero in his own right when he is inducted into Lancaster's Aerospace Walk of Honor.

``The Walk of Honor is a wonderful concept for bringing attention to the importance of developing air and space power,'' said Pearson, a former commander at Edwards Air Force Base. ``I am humbled and highly honored to be included in this family.''

Joining Pearson in the class of 2005 for the walk will be Jack Allavie, Dick Thomas, Wally Lien and Edward Schneider. Plaques honoring their achievements will be unveiled at 11:30 a.m. Saturday as part of a daylong celebration of the region's aerospace industry.

Pearson is being honored for a 34-year career that included flying a test mission in which he became the first, and thus far only, pilot to shoot down a space satellite. Pearson was also the first general officer to fly the F/A-22 Raptor and played a key role in keeping the fighter program on track.

Pearson, the son of a World War II B-24 flight engineer, said he had always wanted to fly. While in high school, he got his first airplane ride with a family friend in a 1946 Aeronica Chief.

``We took off from his cow pasture, and my life has never been the same,'' Pearson said. ``It was more exciting and thrilling than I could possibly have imagined. I remember that flight to this day.''

While attending Texas A&M, Pearson paid for flying lessons by working at an airport pumping gas into other people's airplanes, cutting the airport grass, and other odd jobs.

After graduating with a degree in aeronautical engineering, Pearson joined the Air Force. He flew F-4E fighters in combat missions from Thailand in 1972 and 1973, at the tail-end of the Vietnam War, racking up more than 360 hours of combat flying.

``One of my most rewarding missions was in late December 1972 when we found a SAM (surface to air missile) site that had been credited with downing at least two B-52s. We attacked the site, left it burning with numerous SA-2 missiles exploding on the ground,'' Pearson said. ``It was never active again during the war.''

Pearson came to Edwards in 1981 as a student of the Test Pilot School. He would go on to work on flight test programs for the F-4, F-5, and F-20.

In 1985, Pearson, then a major, was the commander of the F-15 Anti-Satellite Combined Test Force at Edwards. The United States wanted an anti-satellite missile capable of knocking out enemy spy satellites.

Flying over the Pacific Ocean 200 miles west of Vandenberg Air Force Base, Pearson fired a specially designed missile that hit and destroyed a solar observatory research satellite and shattered it into more than 250 pieces.

``They (the Soviets) knew how difficult it is to intercept an object in orbit and gave us a lot of credit because America made it look easy,'' Pearson said. ``We just never let them see us sweat.''

Congress barred the Air Force from shooting at another satellite. The Soviet Union had worked for several years on its own anti-satellite weapons, but halted such work in 1983. Congress feared continuing the U.S. testing would prompt the Soviets to resume their testing.

After serving in a variety of posts through the 1990s, Pearson returned to Edwards in June 2001 to become the base's top officer.

During his tenure at Edwards, Pearson was heavily involved in the F/A-22 Raptor program, which was going through a period in which a decision had to be made as to whether it should be continued or canceled.

``If I had any impact on the program it was in helping to restore confidence and focus in the flight test program that gave the program time to succeed,'' Pearson said. ``I am extremely proud to have been associated with the program during that defining moment.''

Pearson is still helping shape the nation's air power, now as a civilian working for Lockheed Martin on the F-35 joint strike fighter program at Fort Worth, Texas - the same plant that built the B-24s his father had flown in.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

As commander at Edwards Air Force Base in 2004, Doug Pearson sits in the cockpit of an F-15 fighter.

Air Force