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
“Born to cotton-farming parents at Mahoney, Texas, Jerry Don Voss wanted to fly from the time he was old enough to spot an airplane in the sky.
Voss got his wish and made a career out of it, becoming a US Air Force captain. He flew his first aircraft in 1965, as a graduate of Texas A&M University, during Air Force pilot training at Laredo.
Over the course of 43 years, Voss served his country in Germany as a fighter pilot in the first F-4 Phantom Aircraft unit and as a fighter pilot for the Texas Air National Guard. He also flew commercially for Braniff, Eastern and American Airlines and, in later years, piloted for a local construction company.
He also raised a family and supported his hometown community of Sulphur Springs, Texas, USA.
Voss still loves planes as much as he loves his country, and today serves as a volunteer guide at the Mid-America Flight Museum in Mount Pleasant, Texas.
Voss feels strongly about the living treasury of history and education that the Mid-America Flight Museum offers the public.
Just as Scott Glover, the owner of the privately owned collection oversees the dozens of restored vintage, warbird, and commercial aircraft on display, he also maintains three goals: to honor the nation’s veterans, to promote aviation and history to our youth, and to preserve the uniquely exciting histories of the aircraft.
With a similar passion, Voss enjoys ‘aviation mentoring,’ especially children and students, and explaining our American legacy of freedom which has been won in the air by veterans during war times…”