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This Day in History – June 10, 1969 – The X-15 gets a place in history

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

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Tanner, Don

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  • Tanner, Don

Don Tanner

Preferred Name: Don
Date of Birth: September 9, 1934
Highest Military Grade: 0-3 – Captain
Hometown: Carey, OH
Don Tanner - before
Don Tanner - now
Biography
Pilot Information
Album

“It’s been a good ride.

Kind of a side note, out of our class at Luke (62F) I got over 1000 hours in the Hun and never inflight refueled. At Luke, refueling and ACM were near the end of the program but when we got to it, the Cuban Crisis happened and when we went to the base one morning, all the planes were gone! I was flown to Florida. We sat around for a week I guess, and then they graduated us saying we could finish that training at our new assignment. Since my only tour in the Hun was Ramstein, and they had no requirement to inflight refuel, I got my 1000 hours and never had the pleasure of hooking up.

My longest flight was about 2:45, non-stop Ramstein to Wheelus.”

After serving in the USAF, Don flew from 1967-1997 for United Air Lines. He piloted the 737, 727, DC 8, and DC-10, was Copilot on the 727, DC 10, 747-400, and Captain on the 727.

Units Assigned

  • 1955-1956 Navigator and Radar Observer Training, Harlingen AFB, TX and James Connally AFB, TX.
  • 1956-1957 46th FIS, Back seat F-94’s, Dover AFB, DE (F-94C)
  • 1957-1958 57th FIS, Back seat F-89, Keflavik, Iceland (F-89D)
  • 1959-1960 Nav. on RC 121’s McClellan AFB, Sacramento, CA (RC-121)
  • 1961-1962 Pilot Training. Williams AFB, AZ (T-37, T-33)
  • 1963-1966 417th TFS, Ramstein AB, Germany (F-100)
  • 1966-1967 FAC, 101st Airborne, Instructor Pilot O-1’s Viet Nam (O-1)
  • 1967 Retired USAF

Awards & Decorations

Flight Info

F-94C – Backseat
F-89D – Backseat
RC-121 – Navigator

Flew:
T-37
T-33
F-100
O-1

Commercial:
737, 727, DC-8,DC-10

Military & Civilian Education

Military Education:

  • 12 ½ yrs. of experiences with life

Civilian Education:

  • 2 ½ yrs at Ohio University

 

Tanner, Don
Album Slideshow
Slideshow
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Wall of Honor Location

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