Test Pilot Scott Crossfield Killed in Crash
April 20, 2006, 4:34 PM EDT
RANGER, Ga. -- Scott Crossfield, the hotshot test pilot and aircraft designer who in 1953 became the first man to fly at twice the speed of sound, was killed in the crash of his small plane, authorities said Thursday. He was 84.
Crossfield's body was found in the wreckage Thursday in the mountains about 50 northwest of Atlanta, a day after the single-engine plane he was flying dropped off radar screens on a flight from Alabama to Virginia. There were thunderstorms in the area at the time.
The cause of the crash was under investigation. Crossfield was believed to be the only person aboard.
During the 1950s, Crossfield embodied what came to be called "the right stuff," dueling the better-known Chuck Yeager for supremacy among America's Cold War test pilots. Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947; only weeks after Crossfield reached Mach 2, or twice the speed of sound, Yeager outdid him.
Good bye, Scott. Thanks for everything.
