On the recordOctober 3, 2017
I am truly blessed to represent a district in southern California that is the home of so many historic feats. Today, I would like to tell you about one of those feats that turned 50 years old today. October 3, 1967, is a date I will never forget, but it is probably a date I will never remember either because I was 9 months old. On that date, a B-52 flew down the runway of Edwards Air Force Base with a small, white airplane tucked underneath her wing. A major who had thousands of hours in different platforms was the pilot of that airplane. He had been on several different programs and had been a test pilot for many years and was a graduate of the United States Air Force Test Pilot School. He was the pilot of that small, white aircraft. The plan was simple on paper. It was to accelerate to 100,000 feet and achieve a Mach of 6.50. As the pilots at Edwards Air Force Base will also tell you, it is a profession that they go about, and they do this in a very professional manner. The terms were 100,000 feet and 6.50, the ending was 102,100 feet and 6.72--a new airspeed record. {time} 1015 The interesting thing about this is that the air speed record had been set on November 18, 1966, by the same pilot and broken just 10 months later. That flight has now stood for 50 years. If that pilot was here today, he would say that it is a travesty that that air speed record has stood for 50 years.…
