PILOT PROGRAM; CEREMONY SET TO HAIL AVIATORS.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Daily News Staff Writer

More than 300 people are expected to crowd onto Lancaster Boulevard's sidewalks Saturday for the unveiling of monuments honoring five accomplished test pilots.

Dave Ferguson, Richard Johnson, Thomas McMurtry and Wendell ``Wendy'' Shawler - fifth honoree Robert Stephens died in 1984 - will give brief remarks at a noontime ceremony, then move to tables set up in front of their individuals bronze monuments as people line up to get the pilots' autographs.

``People can meet them, shake their hands, get their autographs,'' said city spokeswoman Anne Aldrich. ``It's a couple of hours of making them available to the public in a way they are not normally.''

The ceremony will begin at noon in the Lancaster Library courtyard. After introductions of the honorees and brief remarks by them, the ceremony will conclude with an F-117 stealth fighter making a low looping pass over downtown.

That evening, the pilots will be honored at a black-tie dinner of beef Wellington and tiger shrimp at the Essex House. Tickets at $75 each are available through the Lancaster Performing Arts Center box office, [phone].

The Aerospace Walk of Honor recognizes the achievements of test pilots who have a connection with Edwards Air Force Base. The walk's 40 inductees include Chuck Yeager, W.J. ``Pete'' Knight and Neil Armstrong.

This year's inductees include three Antelope Valley residents: the first YF-22 test pilot, the first Air Force F-15 pilot and a National Aeronautics and Space Administration research pilot.

Ferguson, a Vietnam War veteran, is director of flight operations for Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works. He was the second company pilot to fly the F-117 stealth fighter and in 1990 he made the first flight of the YF-22 advanced tactical fighter, the prototype of the F-22 Raptor.

Shawler, who last month retired from the National Test Pilot School in Mojave, was the first director of the F-15 joint test force. Shawler was the first Air Force pilot to fly the F-15 Eagle, regarded as the world's top air superiority fighter.

McMurtry, director of flight operations at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, made the first flights in NASA's F-8 supercritical wing project and the AD-1 oblique wing airplane. McMurtry also co-piloted the 747 shuttle carrier aircraft as it transported the shuttle Enterprise on its first flight in 1977.

Johnson, who resides in Aledo, Texas, made the first flight of the variable sweep wing F-111, plus the first wing sweep demonstration and the first F-111 supersonic mission.

Stephens was the first military pilot of the SR-71 Blackbird spy plane and the YF-12A, the prototype interceptor version of the Blackbird. From 1963 to 1968, Stephens was the test director for the SR-71 and YF-12A test force at Edwards.

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PHOTO (Color in AV Edition only) Worker Modesto Rivera polishes a monument on the walk of honor.

Charles F. Bostwick/Daily News