SKY QUEEN WOMAN PILOT TO BE MEMORIALIZED ON WALK OF FAME.Byline: PATRICK St. MICHEL Special to the Daily NewsLANCASTER - Lancaster's Aerospace Walk of Honor The Aerospace Walk of Honor in Lancaster, California, USA, is a continually-growing venue for honoring test pilots who have significantly contributed to aviation and space research and development. will posthumously get its first woman inductee: Jacqueline Cochran, who pulled herself out of poverty to become a record-setting pilot and the first woman to break the sound barrier. Cochran, who died in 1980, was announced Monday as a 2006 Aerospace Walk of Honor inductee, along with test pilots Mervin Evenson, John Hardy Griffith, Fred Knox Jr. and Emil ``Ted'' Sturmthal. The inductions will bring the number of pilots with monuments along Lancaster Boulevard to 85. ``It takes courage to break through barriers and build a better world for future generations,'' said Mayor Henry Hearns, standing in front of several photos of airplanes at the announcement ceremony Monday. ``The test pilots we honor are great examples of unselfish courage.'' The Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley also deserves recognition, the mayor added. ``Many of the greatest accomplishments in the history of aviation have happened right here, in the skies over the Antelope Valley,'' Hearns said. ``I feel so honored to be part of this.'' The granite monument honoring Cochran, Evenson, Griffith, Knox and Sturmthal will be unveiled at noon Sept. 16. A formal program will be at 3 p.m. that day in the Lancaster Performing Arts Center A performing arts center, often abbreviated PAC, is a multi-use performance space that can be adapted for use by various types of the performing arts, including dance, music and theatre. , 750 W. Lancaster Blvd. Tickets are $5 each, available through the center box office. The Walk of Honor ceremony will have a more scholarly feel than previous events, focusing on science and math education, said City Manager Bob LaSala. Scholarships in each honoree's name will be presented to local students, he said. Keynote speaker will be Parade Magazine Science Editor David Levy David Levy may refer to:
The Walk of Honor monument unveiling will come during the Celebrate Downtown street festival. The festivities fes·tiv·i·ty n. pl. fes·tiv·i·ties 1. A joyous feast, holiday, or celebration; a festival. 2. The pleasure, joy, and gaiety of a festival or celebration. 3. will include a farmers market and music by the Air Force Band of the Golden West's Mobility ensemble and by a swing-era ensemble, Cherry Poppin' Daddies, whose single ``Zoot Suit Riot'' was a hit in 1998. Cochran was not only the first woman to break the sound barrier, but also the first to fly a jet across the Atlantic and to receive the Gold Medal gold medal traditional first prize. [Western Cult: Misc.] See : Prize of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale. She grew up in poverty in northern Florida, but developed a chain of beauty shops and later an international line of cosmetics. Cochran became a pilot in the 1930s and is credited with the idea of creating the Women's Airforce Serve Pilots, or WASPs, who took on noncombat military flying duties during World War II. In 1971, Cochran became the first living woman inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame The American National Aviation Hall of Fame is located at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, east Dayton, Ohio. It is open to the public. . Evenson, a retired Air Force colonel, was the first military test pilot to fly the F-4C Phantom. He also tested various other aircraft, including the YF-12 Blackbird prototype and the B-1A and B-1B bombers. Evenson is said to have more flight time at Mach 3 -- three times the speed of sound -- than any other military test pilot in the world. Griffith, a World War II combat pilot, flew early experimental aircraft including the X-1 and D-558-2 rocket planes Rocket planes or rocket aircraft can be subdivided by the few rocket powered aircraft to have existed. Some early attempts at flights used engines that might be considered the first 'rocket' powered aircraft. and the X-4 and D-558-1 jets. He served as a research pilot for the High Speed Flight Research Unit operated by NASA's predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics “NACA” redirects here. For other uses, see NACA (disambiguation). The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a U.S. federal agency founded on March 3, 1915 to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. , at what is now Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. . Knox led the flight-test effort to develop several new aircraft, including the X-31 research aircraft and the Boeing X-32 joint strike fighter. A Navy veteran, he flew F-14 Tomcat fighter jets off aircraft carriers. Sturmthal, a retired Air Force colonel who died in 1982, flew the Mach 3 XB-70 bomber at Edwards and later was a test pilot of the B-1A bomber. CAPTION(S): 5 photos Photo: (1) Jacqueline Cochran, the first woman to break the sound barrier and first woman to fly a jet across the Atlantic Ocean Across the Atlantic Ocean is the twenty-eighth episode[1] of Mobile Suit Gundam. Plot summary Amuro and Sayla manage to reduce their time in docking the Gundam and the G-Fighter to fifteen seconds. , will posthumously become the first woman to get a monument along the Lancaster's Aerospace Walk of Honor. (2) John Griffith (3) Mervin Evenson (4) Fred Knox Jr. (5) Emil Sturmthal |
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