TEST PILOT HONOR ROLL TO GROW INDUCTION SET FOR SEPT. 22.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer LANCASTER - The city of Lancaster The City of Lancaster (2002 population: 133,914) is a local government district with city status in Lancashire, England. Its main town is Lancaster, from which it obtained its city status. Other towns in the district include Morecambe, Heysham, Slyne, and Carnforth. and the downtown business association are joining together to turn the annual 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. celebration into an aviation street fair. The city and the association will host what they call the Lancaster Aerospace Celebration on Sept. 22. The event will combine the city's 12th annual induction ceremony for the Aerospace Walk of Honor and the Lancaster Old Town Site Association's unveiling of the next in a series of aviation-hero murals. The mural program is in its third year. ``This year, we are building on those two programs to create a huge communitywide salute to aviation,'' Mayor Frank Roberts Frank Roberts may refer to:
The Antelope Valley .'' The celebration will be held along Lancaster Boulevard in the city's downtown area, between Sierra Highway Sierra Highway is a road in Southern California, United States. It runs from Tunnel Station near the north limit of the City of Los Angeles, where it intersects with San Fernando Road and Foothill Boulevard, as well as Interstate 5, and continues north to Mojave, mostly paralleling and 10th Street West. Plans call for displays of rocket engines and full-size and model aircraft displays and exhibits from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), civilian agency of the U.S. federal government with the mission of conducting research and developing operational programs in the areas of space exploration, artificial satellites (see satellite, artificial), , Boeing, Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is an aerospace and defense conglomerate that is the result of the 1994 purchase of Grumman by Northrop. The company is the third largest defense contractor for the U.S. , Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., the Experimental Aircraft Association, Old Town Site group, the Air Force Flight Test Museum and the rocket laboratory at 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. . At noon, the city will unveil the monuments to the five new Aerospace Walk of Honor inductees. The names of the honorees, all test pilots deeply connected to Edwards, will be revealed later this month. In a new twist for this year, the unveilings will be held at the new Civic Plaza, at Lancaster Boulevard and Sierra Highway. The plaza has five monument walls, each with enough space for five Walk of Honor plaques. City officials intend to put an F-4 Phantom jet on display eventually at the plaza, but it is uncertain whether the plane will be ready by Sept. 22. The latest aerospace mural will be unveiled at 1:45 p.m. The mural, to be painted at Lancaster Boulevard and Elm Avenue, will depict state Sen. W.J. ``Pete'' Knight, R-Palmdale, a former Edwards test pilot and an inaugural inductee of the Aerospace Walk of Honor. Knight was nicknamed ``the fastest man alive'' for a record-setting 4,520-mph flight in an X-15 rocket plane in 1967. The Lancaster Old Town Site group also will sell aerospace-theme Christmas ornaments, one depicting a pilot and another depicting an airplane. The subjects depicted on the ornaments will be announced later this month, said the group's president, Lon McCracken. The street fair will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. A banquet for the Aerospace Walk of Honor inductees will be held at 6 p.m. at the Essex House Convention Center, 44916 10th Street West. Tickets are $75 and can be purchased at 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. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (ran in AV and SAC editions only) Downtown leader Lon McCracken, left, and Mayor Frank Roberts stroll by the plaques on the Lancaster Walk of Honor. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer |
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