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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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Weller, Roger M.

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  • Weller, Roger M.

Roger Merrill Weller

Preferred Name: Rog
Nickname/Call Sign: Sabre 23
Date of Birth: February 5, 1942
Highest Military Grade: 0-6 – Colonel
Hometown: Crofton, MD
Biography
Pilot Information
Caterpillar Club
Album

Roger Weller “retired from the Air Force Reserve after 30 plus years of service, mostly in air operations, command positions, and the flying business for the ANG and the USAFR. I was a fighter pilot for 10 years at the Springfield ANG Base, flying F-84Fs and F-100s (yes, the airplane crash story is true!) I was the sole survivor of that F-84F crash in December of 1968……OK, the rest of the story…I was alone in the plane (of course….that’s what we fighter pilots do best) and ejected successfully (some may disagree with that opinion….). I got squeezed out of the Ohio Air Guard at 24 years (they didn’t like Wing tri-deputy [Ops, CSS and CMS] commanders (commuting from Maryland) so I got into the DLA IMA program in 1989 at Cameron Station, VA and made O-6 after three years there. Retired as the IMA to the DLA Chief of Operations …….neat job …..at Ft Belvoir, VA in 1996..”

“I concurrently worked as a civilian at WPAFB for 17 years (the last 7 years were in the Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) business—-fun!) before coming to Maryland. I retired as a GM-14 with a CSRS pension on the last day of the millennium from DoD as Director, Center Services in December 2000 from The Joint Spectrum Center, located on the Naval Station in Annapolis. I have worked seven separate weeks in 2006-2008 as a volunteer in a work camp in D’Iberville, Mississippi. We rebuilt and renovated old homes and built new homes for the residents there displaced by Hurricane Katrina.”(1)

See more about Roger at https://www.69-03.org/pages/rog_weller.html

Source: https://www.69-03.org/pages/rog_weller.html

Units Assigned

  • 4/1966 Enlisted in the Springfield Ohio ANG
  • 7/1967 Selected for flight school and commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant
  • 10/1967-11/1968Attended USAF Flight School at Laughlin AFB, TX
  • 1968-1975 162nd Tactical Fighter Squadron,F-84F, F-100D
  • 1975-12/1989 178th Tactical Fighter Group, Springfield Ohio ANG, Fuels Supply Officer, Administrative Officer, Combat Support Squadron Commander and a Tri-Deputy (CSS) Commander
  • 1/1990-7/1993 Served as IMA to the Comptroller, Hq Defense Logistics Agency
    Completed Air War College in seminar format as a Distinguished Graduate and was promoted to Colonel
  • 8/1993-6/1996 Served as IMA to the Chief of Operations, HQ DLA
  • 6/1996 Retired USAF

Awards & Decorations

Distinguished Service Medal
Distinguished Service Medal

Flight Info

F-100 D/F (350 hours)
F-84F (375 hours)

Military & Civilian Education

Military Education:

  • Air War College (Distinguished Graduate)

Civilian Education:

  • MBA/Financial Administration, Wright State University, OH

Roger Weller Caterpillar Club Story

“Twas a cold December day in 1968, not yet a month from receiving my wings at Laughlin AFB, Texas. As the F-84Fs had no two seaters; my first flight was solo.

I had progressed to Flight #7 in the syllabus. I was to lead a two-ship flight of F-84Fs out of Springfield, Ohio on an local navigation mission, with my instructor as my wingman.

To make a long and sometimes boring story (according to my wife who has heard it about 100 times) short, the single-engine flamed out at 2000 AGL at the beginning of an ILS approach to home base. I tried two air starts, was advised to “punch out”, and did so, although not everything performed as advertised by the Dash-1.

The parachute opened at about 500 feet AGL and my pink butt lived to fly fighters for another 7 years. I spent 5 days in the WPAFB hospital (due to my flight surgeon going “out of State’ for a long weekend………….), I was back up in a T-33 on the sixth day and in an F-84F on the seventh day after the accident.

FYI, Yes, I got my Caterpillar Club pin from the parachute manufacturer, the M. Steinthal Co. of NYC.”

Weller, Roger 1
Album Slideshow
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