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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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Lessig, William J.

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  • Lessig, William J.

William J. Lessig

Preferred Name: Bill
Nickname/Call Sign: Scorpion
Date of Birth: January 10, 1935
Highest Military Grade: Select
Hometown: Reading, PA
Biography
Pilot Information
Album

ill Lessig entered the USAF in 1954. From 1963-1966 Bill flew the F-100 with the 7272nd Fighter Training Wing out of Wheelus AFB, Libya.

He left the USAF in 1968 and spent the next years in telecommunications, as the Vice President and General Manager of Venice Marine Center in FL, and in 2002 started Prointegrators LLC in Birdsboro, PA.

Bill’s favorite quote is “Check Six & DBYA. The two most useless things for pilots are the runway behind you and air space above you.”

Units Assigned

  • 1954 Entered USAF
  • 1963-1966 7272nd Fighter Training Wing, Wheelus AFB, Libya (F-100)
  • 1968 Left USAF

Awards & Decorations

Flight Info

F-100

Wall of Honor location: Foil: 10; Panel: 2; Column: 1; Line: 83

Military & Civilian Education

Military Education:

  • 1962 Applied Leadership Skills & Psychology,  USAF Air University

C Flight, USAFE Weapons Center, Wheelus AB, Tripoli, Libya 1964. Standing left, me, C Flight Commander, right Jay Hildebrand (Outgoing Flight Commander), front row my wing men. Left #2 Rich Drake RIP, center #4 Walt Radecker RIP, right #3 Larry Driggs.
Album Slideshow
Slideshow
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Wall of Honor Location

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