HONORS FLOW FOR KNIGHT LEGISLATOR WAS LEGENDARY PILOT.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick and Jim Skeen Staff Writers

PALMDALE - With military honors provided by airmen from Edwards Air Force Base, where he once flew an X-15 rocket plan faster than any other pilot, state Sen. W.J. ``Pete'' Knight will be buried Thursday in Palmdale.

American flags flew at half-staff on Monday at the 8-month-old high school named after him and over Palmdale City Hall, where he had been mayor for four years and a councilman for four years before that.

``I always see Pete as a test pilot,'' Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford said. ``He was an American icon. He represents that golden age of aviation.''

A memorial service is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday at Lancaster Baptist Church, 4020 E. Lancaster Blvd., with burial to follow at Desert Lawn Memorial Park , 2200 E. Ave. S in Palmdale.

Knight died Saturday at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, three weeks after he was diagnosed with leukemia.

Knight, in his last year of office under the state term-limits law, had missed the opening of the current legislative session on April 12 while undergoing tests. His staff announced last week that he was hospitalized with acute myelogenous leukemia, a quickly progressing form of the disease.

In Sacramento, Knight was best known as the author of Proposition 22, passed by California voters in 2000, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman. The ballot measure is being challenged now in several courts.

At Palmdale City Hall, Knight is remembered for 1980s efforts to initiate the city's first general plan, providing a blueprint for Palmdale's growth, and for his work in bringing in the Antelope Valley Mall.

After retiring as a colonel from a 32-year Air Force career, Knight had entered politics in 1988 by running for the Palmdale City Council.

Flying F-100 fighters over Vietnam, Knight was a three-time winner of the Distinguished Flying Cross, and he later served as vice commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards.

At Edwards in 1967, Knight set a speed record of 4,520 mph in an X-15 rocket plane. Knight was one of eight X-15 pilots to earn astronaut wings by flying the aircraft higher than 280,000 feet, considered the edge of space.

Knight will be remembered for his contributions to aviation, said former Air Force historian Richard Hallion, author of ``Test Pilots - the Frontiersmen of Flight.''

``In the flight-test profession, where uncommon ability is a necessary prerequisite for membership, Pete Knight nevertheless was a standout among his peers,'' Hallion said. ``He demonstrated extraordinary airmanship, possessed keen abilities to assess and analyze, and employed shrewd organizational skills.''

Knight's family and staff and Edwards officials were working out plans for the services.

``He will be buried with military honors,'' Edwards spokesman John Haire said.

At Knight High School, his namesake, students in the campus Key Club want to do a memorial project, such as planting a tree, Principal Mike Vierra said. He said Knight made a deep impression on students when he visited the campus after it opened in September.

``They took to him really well. I think they really liked what he had to say. Afterwards he was mobbed by the kids. Lots of kids told him they want to go into the military. They told him they wanted to do this or do that. They asked him about his career,'' Vierra said.

Knight is survived by his wife, Gail, three sons and four stepchildren. Knight and his wife together shared 15 grandchildren.

The family asked that memorial donations be made either to the Society for Experimental Test Pilots Scholarship Fund or the City of Hope hospital for leukemia research.

Checks made out to the pilots' scholarship fund can be mailed to it at P.O. Box 986, Lancaster CA 93584-0986. Checks made out to the City of Hope for leukemia research can be mailed to the hospital at 1500 E. Duarte Road, Duarte, CA 91010.

Charles F. Bostwick, [phone]

chuck.bostwick(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color in AV and SAC editions only) KNIGHT

(2 -- color -- ran in SAC edition only) Test pilot W.J. ``Pete'' Knight holds his helmet in front of an X-15 rocket plane in 1965. Two years later, he flew the craft past the threshold of space - higher than 280,000 feet.