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
Brigadier General Ronald A. Turner was the assistant adjutant general and also served as the commander of the Oklahoma Air National Guard at the Headquarters of the Oklahoma Air National Guard in Oklahoma City, Okla. He was directly responsible to the adjutant general of Oklahoma for the supervision and continuity of all units of the Oklahoma ANG.
The General entered the Oklahoma Air National Guard in March 1960. He was commissioned in March 1966 as second lieutenant. He entered undergraduate pilot training in October 1966 at Williams Air Force Base, Ariz., and was then assigned to the 125th Military Airlift Squadron as a C-97/C-124 transport pilot. Between the periods of 1968 and 1972 he flew C-97 and C-124 transport missions in and out of Southeast Asia.
After serving for 37 years, Ron Turner retired in 2003 and became the owner of Tulsa Truck Manufacturing. He also serves as the President STARBASE Oklahoma, Inc., and is a member of National Guard Associations of Oklahoma and United States, a Member of the National Truck Equipment Association, a member of the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce and a Corporate Sponsor of United Way and Junior Achievement.
