Tuesday, September 01, 2015

Roy Mole 19xx-2014

Roy Mole was a Vickers/BAC flight test engineer, he was the Flight Engineer on G-ARTA when it had a nearly disastrous flutter incident, and on 5H-MOG during the last first flight of a VC10.

Mark P. "Forger" Stucky


Stucky served as a test pilot at Naval Air Station Pt. Mugu and Naval Weapons Center China Lake, CA, flying both operational and developmental test flights in the F-4 and all models of the F/A-18. He was actively involved in software development in the Hornet as well as testing of the Night Attack variants. Stucky was temporarily assigned to Marine forces for several weeks during Operation Desert Shield/Storm and flew several combat missions during the initial air campaign.

Following his return from the Persian Gulf, Stucky completed his postgraduate study with the University of Tennessee and was awarded a Masters of Science degree in Aviation Systems.

Always interested in aerospace, Stucky left the Marine Corps in 1993 to accept a job as a NASA research pilot job with NASA JSC. At JSC, Stucky served as an aerospace research pilot with primary duties as an instructor pilot for NASA Space Shuttle astronauts in the T-38 and the highly modified Gulfstream-II Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA).
After earning his degree, Stucky joined the United States Marine Corps where he flew the F-4 Phantom and later the F/A-18 Hornet. During his tenure in the Marines, Stucky was selected for and graduated from the Navy Fighter Weapons School (TopGun), the Marine Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course, and the USAF Test Pilot School.
 Stucky transferred to Dryden in February 1996 from NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, TX. He was assigned as a pilot on various flight test models of the F-18 and F-16 aircraft as well as the King Air. He also was the project pilot in the Eclipse project, which involved towing a QF-106 behind a C-141 to test a method of launching spacecraft. When he joined Dryden, Stucky had logged over 4,000 flight hours in over forty different models of aircraft varying from the U-2 spyplane to the Goodyear Blimp.Stucky's aviation career began in 1974 when he started hang gliding off the Kansas flint hills at age 15. He attended Kansas State University where he received a Blue Key scholarship for an extra-curricular design project involving hang gliding. Stucky graduated from KSU in 1980 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Science.He was an aerospace research test pilot at NASA's Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA, until the middle of September 1999, when he left Dryden for other employment.

He was with Scaled Composites’ WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo development program, ranging from engineering test pilot for both vehicles to technical adviser, design engineer, instructor pilot, project pilot and mentor. During his tenure at Scaled, Stucky flew the majority of SpaceShipTwo’s envelope expansion flights and initiated its powered rocket motor test flight phase as pilot in command on the spaceship’s first powered flight. He also served as project pilot and instructor in the transition and integration of WhiteKnightTwo from Scaled to Virgin Galactic’s commercial operations team. He joined Virgin Galactic as a pilot in January 2015.
 

Michael R. Swann 1949-1981


Michael R. Swann joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Dryden Flight Research Center on June 5, 1978, transferring from the NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, as a research pilot.
Swann attended North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota, from September 1968 to February 1977, where he earned his Masters in Physics. He was a member of three national honorary scholastic fraternities.
Prior to joining NASA Swann served concurrently as an Aerospace Defense Command Interceptor pilot in the Air National Guard for five years and as a college physics instructor at North Dakota State University for two years.
While at Johnson Space Center Mike was a pilot on high altitude earth resources and air sampling missions. He was also an instructor and check pilot for the Astronaut Space Flight Readiness Training program. As a Dryden research pilot Mike was involved with the F-111 #778 Transonic Aircraft Technology (TACT) program, F-15 # 281 Shuttle Tile tests, programs on the F-8C #802 and the PA-30 #808 Remotely Piloted Research Vehicle. He flew the Bell 47G #822 helicopter in support of research with the three-eighths-scale F-15 Spin Research Vehicle. On March 28, 1979, Mike made a pilot familiarization flight in the YF-12A #935. He also flew support flights in the F-104, C-47, T-37, T-38, and the Jetstar aircraft.
Michael R. Swann was born June 5, 1949, in Fargo, North Dakota; he was fatally injured in a recreational glider accident on July 28, 1981, near California City, California.

Jock Reid MBE



Jock Reid was born and raised in Renfrew, mid-way between the old and new Glasgow airports. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1966 and after training, flew the Lightning operationally before completing an instructors course and spending 2 years teaching on the Folland Gnat. He attended the US Navy Test Pilots School at Patuxent River, Maryland in 1976 before returning to the UK to spend 3 years testing fighter and trainer aircraft at the Aeroplane and Armament Establishment Boscombe Down. His final 3 years of RAF service was as an instructor at the Empire Test Pilots School, also at Boscombe Down.

He joined the Civil Aviation Authority as an airworthiness test pilot in January 1983, becoming Chief Test Pilot in 1995 before retiring in September 2003. During his CAA service Jock has flown most types of aircraft from the very small to the very largest and fastest. He admits to a great fondness for the Boeing 747 but it is Concorde which remains the focus of his affection. Jock converted to Concorde in 1989 and flew the aeroplane on a regular basis until his retirement in 2003. During that time, he was privileged to participate in all the flight test activities which arose, including in particular, the return to service tests after the Paris accident as well as participation in ceremonial flights such as the opening of the Scottish Parliament and the Queens Golden Jubilee.

Honours and awards include the Royal Aeronautical Society's British Gold Medal, 2002 and the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators Derry and Richards Memorial Medal, 2003. He was appointed MBE in January 2004.