- Lieutenant Colonel Harry Andonian, USAF
- John A. Fergione
- Brigadier General James A. McDivitt, USAF
- Jack Fraser Woodman
- Jean L. “Skip” Ziegler
Lieutenant Colonel Harry Andonian, USAF
Harry Andonian began his career during WWII with the Ferrying Division of the Air Transport Command, flying most of the Army Air Forces aircraft inventory, in 1944 and early 1945. He was involved in the China-Burma-Indian Theater from August 1945 through January 1946. Andonian then flew in the heroic Berlin Airlift from July until September 1948. A graduate of the Empire Test Pilot School, he was assigned to the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB where he served as Chief of the Special Projects Operations Branch, U-2 Test until June 1966. He served as an F-4 squadron commander in Vietnam, accumulating nearly 300 combat flying hours. Andonian was later assigned to Wright-Patterson AFB, where he retired in 1971. As the Project Pilot, he conducted 340 flights on the U-2A/B/D for classified development testing, and was also Project Pilot on the U-2C conducting flight test evaluations. While at Edwards AFB, he participated in performance, stability and control tests of various aircraft including the C-133A, YAC-1 (C-7A), C-54G, KC-135A, B-47, B-52, B-58, C-135B, T-39-A, C-141, HC-130H, XH-51A and the CH-47. A Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Andonian has logged over 26,000 flying hours in over 200 types of aircraft. He has been honored with the Department of Transportation/FAA Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award and inducted into the Flight Test Historical Foundation Gathering of Eagles.
John A. Fergione
Flying experimental airplanes has always been an adventure for John Fergione. During his distinguished career, he has flown virtually all models of the F-16 for more than 26 years; most of that time spent in flight testing. Fergione joined General Dynamics, now Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, as an experimental test pilot in 1981. He spent two years as the F-16XL Project Pilot and conducted the first flights of the F-16 with the F-100-GE-100 engine, both in the F-16XL and in the F-16C. He made numerous other first flights in the pursuit of increasing the F-16’s capabilities at Lockheed in Fort Worth as well as at Edwards AFB. He was assigned to the F-16 Combined Test Force at Edwards AFB from 1985 to 2002 and was also the company’s Facility Manager for much of that time. He was the Chief Test Pilot for the F-16 (non-Block 60) programs until late 2002, when he accepted a transfer to become the F-22A experimental test pilot. Conducting many “firsts” with the F-22A, he stated, “Given the choice of every other airplane in the world, if I only had one more flight in a fighter, I would want it to be in an F-22.” A Fellow and past President of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Fergione has logged over 6,400 flight hours.
Brigadier General James A. McDivitt, USAF
During his distinguished career, James McDivitt contributed immeasurably to aerospace research. He commanded both the Gemini 4 first space walk mission and the Apollo 9 flight in which the Lunar Module was tested for the first time in the earth’s orbit. McDivitt joined Edwards AFB as a student test pilot in June 1959. He remained there with the AFFTC as an experimental flight test pilot and completed the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School. As Directorate of Flight Test, he served in various positions and aeronautical programs including Project Pilot on the T-38 Cat II program and on a reconnaissance version of the F-104; Evaluation Pilot on the French Mirage-3C and the Etendard-4M; and MA-1A barrier tests. Having just been assigned as a Project Pilot on the F-4 and X-15 program, he was selected in 1962 by NASA for astronaut training. McDivitt has logged over 5,000 flying hours in a variety of aircraft. A Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, he has been presented with many awards highlighting his accomplishments including the Iven C. Kincheloe Award, two NASA Distinguished Service Medals, five Distinguished Flying Crosses, five Air Medals, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, two Air Force Distinguished Service Medals, the Honts Award, induction into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame and the International Space Hall of Fame.
Jack Fraser Woodman
Jack Woodman, a former Royal Canadian Air Force Lieutenant, was also regarded as a distinguished American jet aircraft test pilot. In 1960, he was assigned to Lockheed (Palmdale) as Project Pilot on the Canadian version of the CF-104. As a result of this work, he was offered a job by Lockheed a year later. He left the RCAF and signed on as a company engineering test pilot, testing various models – F-104, CF-104, F-104G, F-104S, F-104J – for foreign sales. He was named Lockheed Project Pilot for the NF-104A Aerospace Trainer, a highly modified Starfighter with a 6,000-lb. rocket booster that was designed for the Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB. He made the first flight in July 1963 and, during subsequent development tests, took the aircraft to an altitude of 118,400 feet. One of the three NF-104As – No. 76 – is now on display at the Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB. In the mid-1960s, Woodman participated in Lockheed’s bid for the American Supersonic Transport (SST). He then became the Chief Experimental Test Pilot of the company’s L-1011 TriStar. Woodman, who flew over 10,000 hours in more than 60 different types of aircraft, died in 1987. A Fellow and past President of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, he has also been honored with induction posthumously into the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame.
Jean L. “Skip” Ziegler
Bell Aircraft Corporation X-1A, X-1D, X-2 and X-5 Chief Test Pilot Jean Ziegler was described by his associates as “a man without fear and a real flier.” After a brief association with North American Aviation as an engineering test pilot, Ziegler returned to Bell on October 1, 1950 as Chief Test Pilot and was put in charge of the Bell X-5 research aircraft program. The X-5 was the first plane capable of sweeping its wings while in the air. Ziegler made its first flight on June 20, 1951. During the ninth flight in July 1951, Ziegler activated the wing-sweep mechanism for the first time, making the X-5 the first aircraft to change its wingsweep in flight. An aviation enthusiast from his early childhood, he made the first and only flight of the X-1D at Edwards AFB in 1951. In February 1953, he completed the first rocket-powered flight of the X-1A. He made his last flight in the X-1A in April 1953, achieving a speed of Mach 0.93. Ziegler tragically died on May 12, 1953 while preparing to fly the Bell X-2 which exploded in the bomb bay of the B-50 bomber launch aircraft over Lake Ontario. He has also been honored with induction posthumously into the Amherst Museum Niagara Frontier Aviation Hall of Fame.
Last updated: 8/31/2009 10:45:54 AM