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
Tom Clark graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1963, after having already spent two years at Penn State University. He was sometimes referred to as an “old man” at the Academy. He was interested in politics and flying and looked forward to a military career.
Nearly 6 years after his graduation, Tom Clark was flying a mission in Laos over the Ho Chi Minh Trail just northwest of the DMZ when his F-100D aircraft was shot down. Circumstances surrounding his crash indicate that the enemy probably knows his fate, but in 1973, Tom was not released with other POWs.
Major Clark’s remains were recovered and identified on June 29, 201, and he was repatriated on October 20, 2011. Major Clark is memorialized at Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial and is honored on the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington DC. Name inscribed at VVM Wall, Panel 33w, Line 84. He is also listed on the F-100 Super Sabre Plaque at the USAFA.
Sources: HonorStates.org; pownetwork.org; findagrave.com
