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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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Higgins, Bernard J.

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  • Higgins, Bernard J.

Bernard J. Higgins

Preferred Name: Barney
Date of Birth: September 25, 1934
Highest Military Grade: 0-5 – Lieutenant Colonel
Hometown: Reading, PA
Biography
Pilot Information
Album

Bernard “Barney” Higgins was born in the coal regions of Pennsylvania in 1934. He enlisted in USAF out of high school in 1952 and became an airborne radio operator. He then graduated single-engine pilot training in Class 55U, receiving his USAF commission and fighter pilot’s wings in August 1955.

His first assignment was flying the F-86D at Pittsburgh PA. He took an early out from active duty to obtain a BSEE from Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he flew the F-84F with the INDANG. He really disliked engineering and went with United Airlines as a pilot in 1964. While flying for UAL out of EWR and New York, he commuted back to Fort Wayne to again fly the F-84F and then the F-100D.

The commuting was too much and he transferred to the Maryland ANG to fly all sorts of trash with propellers – O2A, C-7 Caribou, C-130. He flew thirty years for United Airlines, retiring in 1994.

In his own words he “Never bent metal and never hurt anyone. Someone once told me that you can’t fly forever without getting killed. Nonsense! You just need to be lucky and have a minimal amount of skill.”

Units Assigned

  • 1952 Enlisted USAF
  • Pilot Training Class 55U
  • 8/1955 Commissioned/Fighter Wings, USAF
  • Pilot, Pittsburgh PA (F-86D)
  • INANG, Ft Wayne, IN (F-84F)
  • 1971-1972 163rd Tactical Fighter Squadron, INANG (F-100)
  • MDANG (O2A, C-7 Caribou, C-130)

Awards & Decorations

Flight Info

F-86D
F-84F
F-100D
O-2A
C-7 Caribou
C-130

F-86 D/L
F-84F
F-100
O2-A
C-7
C-130
DC-6
DC-8
B-737
B-727
B-767
DC-10

Owned:
Aerocommander Lark
Grumman AA5-A
Cessna 210
Glassflugel glider

Wall of Honor Location: Foil: 14 Panel: 1 Column: 3 Line: 14

Military & Civilian Education

Civilian Education:

  • BSEE, Indiana Institute of Technology, Fort Wayne, IN

HIggins, Barney On Motorcycle
Album Slideshow
Slideshow
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Wall of Honor Location

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