THE TEST OF TIME EDWARDS' HISTORIC AVIATION ROLE NOTED.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - Edwards Air Force Base is the place where the first supersonic flight, the fastest airplane flight, and the first space shuttle landing all occurred.

That illustrious past was recognized Friday by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, which unveiled a monument naming Edwards a historic site for aviation.

``This is the site where the limits of aeronautical technology were expanded to unheard of levels,'' said Tony Springer, chairman of the AIAA historic sites committee. ``The highest, fastest and farthest were all tested here.''

Test pilot Chuck Yeager, X-15 pilot Scott Crossfield and more than 200 other guests gathered at the base museum for the AIAA ceremony, which also kicked off a monthlong celebration of the 50th anniversary of Edwards' designation as the Air Force Flight Test Center.

Achievements at Edwards include the first flights to exceed Mach 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. The X-15 rocket plane program set records for winged aircraft that still stand - the fastest flight, 4,530 mph, and the highest altitude, 354,200 feet.

``Many of us in the business of flight test have always considered the Flight Test Center as the center of the universe,'' said Maj. Gen. Dick Reynolds, the center's commander. ``This is truly sacred ground.''

On Oct. 14, 1947, Yeager conducted what is arguably the most famous flight test ever at Edwards when he became the first man to break the sound barrier.

Now 78, Yeager described the differences between the bare-bones facilities of the 1940s and the modern complex of today as ``like the difference between a Model T and a brand-new Cadillac.''

The job of the test pilot also has changed, Yeager said.

``The airplanes are a lot of easier to fly. There's very few milestones like the old days, but the job is just as important,'' Yeager said. ``They are all very well trained and highly skilled guys.''

Other sites that have been honored by the AIAA include Dutch Flats Airport in San Diego where Charles Lindbergh made the first flight in the Spirit of St. Louis, the airplane he later flew across the Atlantic; a Massachusetts farm where Robert Goddard launched the first liquid propellant rocket in 1926; and Tranquillity Base where astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon.

A plaque noting the AIAA historic designation was mounted in a boulder near the entrance of the Air Force Flight Test Center Museum.

``Called a natural airdrome, the Rogers dry lakebed and surrounding airspace, known as the Air Force Flight Test Center has been and continues to be the optimum location for first flights and validation of high performance and experimental aerospace vehicles,'' the plaque inscription reads. ``With the research, development, test, evaluation, and other support of Flight Test Center personnel, more major milestones in flight have occurred here than anywhere else in the world.''

Flight testing at Edwards actually began nine years before the flight test center designation. In 1942, the XP-59A Airacomet, America's first jet aircraft, was tested in secret at Edwards, then a tiny, isolated gunnery range known as Muroc Army Air Field.

Edwards had the attributes necessary for testing a top-secret airplane - the isolation, clear weather and the enormous, smooth-surfaced dry lake beds to let pilots set early jets down quickly if their primitive engines failed in flight.

In June 1951, the man in charge of flight testing, Gen. Al Boyd, directed that Edwards be designated as the Air Force Flight Test Center. Over the next 10 years, the Air Force invested more than $120 million in developing Edwards' main base.

``When General (Al) Boyd moved flight testing from Wright Field (Ohio) to Edwards it was a great, great investment and it has paid off a thousand-fold,'' Yeager said.

The AIAA historic sites program was established in January 2000 to promote the preservation of places where historic aviation events occurred, and to educate the public about the accomplishments of the aerospace industry.

The AIAA honor is actually the second for Edwards. Last year, the AIAA named the rocket laboratory as a historic site for its role in developing and testing the nation's rocket engines, including those that powered the Apollo moon missions.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Legendary test pilot Chuck Yeager speaks at Friday's designation of Edwards Air Force Base as a historic aviation site.

(2 -- color) Dignitaries unveil a plaque Friday at Edwards. From left are Sheila Widnall, Robert Horner, Maj. Gen. Dick Reynolds, Tony Springer and Chuck Yeager.

(3) Major Gen. Dick Reynolds and ex-test pilot Chuck Yeager stand in front of a mural showing a selection of aircraft.

(4) Stealth fighters make a flyover Friday at Edwards Air Force Base in honor of an new historic designation for the base.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff photographer