10 June 1969: The U.S. Air Force donated the first North American Aviation X-15, serial number 56-6670, to the Smithsonian Institution for display at the National Air and Space Museum. The first of three X-15A hypersonic research rocketplanes built by North American for the Air Force and the National Advisory Committee (NACA, the predecessor of NASA), 56-6670 made the first glide flight and
Dan Eliason now lives in Provo, UT. He says “I’m really a poser in the Super Saber Society. I only flew the F-100 part-time with the Ohio ANG when my real job was at a desk in W-P AFB. They did let me do anything they did and I was qualified in all range events and refueling so you can bet if they got called up, I’d have figured out a way to go to war with them and that old airplane.
Because the F-100 was THE tactical mainstay of the cold war—and the first aircraft I ever saw the Thunderbirds fly, it will always have a certain aurora and place of honor in my memory. Even as a grizzled old Major with 145 combat missions in the Thud, I nearly teared up the first time I got to slide into the slot position in a Hun 4-ship.”