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
On 25 July 1968, Captain Joseph A. L’Huillier was on a strike mission flying F-100 #54-1912 near Thon Sau, 15km S-SE of Heip Duc. (1) He was “fatally injured after he ejected from his disabled aircraft west of Chu Lai. Immediately after a high angle dive bomb delivery, Captain L’Huillier’s aircraft was believed to have been hit by ground fire. Captain L’Huillier relayed that his aircraft controls were failing and then pulled up into a cloud deck and ejected. No one observed his ejection but his parachute was spotted on the ground a short while later. A rescue helicopter picked him up within 30 minutes but he died before he could be hospitalized. His fatal injuries were probably incurred upon ejection or landing, with improper chute opening or seat involvement suspected.” (2)
Joseph Andre L’Huillier is buried at Arlington National Cemetery and is honored on the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington DC. Name inscribed at VVM Wall, Panel 50w, Line 7.
Source: Bio Info/Photos – HonorStates.org; WallofFaces.org; (1) Coffeltdatabase (2) AU/ACSC/08-8361/AY06, Air Command and Staff College, Air University, Forgotten Heroes – U.S. ANG Fighter Squadrons of Vietnam by Joseph B. Speed, Major, USAF, A Research Report Submitted to the Faculty In Partial Fulfillment of the Graduation Requirements, Instructor: Dr. Michael E. Weaver, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, April 2006, https://www.afresearch.org.
