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
“Air Force Veteran Col. John Winkler flew 84 combat missions during the Vietnam War. He was born in 1933 and remembers having a Victory Garden at his home in Cleveland during WWII…
He became an instructor of the best of the best, the Top Guns. As the Director of Operations at a base in Spain, squadrons under his command flew thousands of missions and had the distinction of not losing a pilot.”(1)
Source: (1) Americas Veterans Stories with Kim Monson
To hear Col. Winkler’s full interview go to https://soundcloud.com/americasveteransstories/americas-veterans-stories-92522air-force-veteran-col-john-winkler-vietnam-top-gun-instructor?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing