mile scott crossfield is the pilot who flew for north american. we know him best through looking at the fx 16. but the first pilot to fly the f x-15. but in the early '50s it's chuck yeager and scott crossfield dueling on these mock 1, mock 2 records. early 1950s. so they're competitors. and that's one of the interesting and dynamic things about pilots, especially in the 1950s. they're hypercompetitive. they want to see who is the best and really outdo each other. and chuck yeager and scott crossfield are a great example of that. >> if people are interested in studying aviation history, obviously you have done your research at auburn, but where are some of the leading institutions in this country? >> in a lot of ways you can go to a focused program like auburn had or you could go to any first rate graduate school. and you can study history and as part of your theme you can put aviation into the story. so we've had through your fellowship program we've had students from yale, princeton, the other ivy league schools. major land grant universities. s

beginning in 1959 scott crossfield, the north american research engineering test pilot, makes the first flights with the x15 this particular one which is number one x15. seeing how it can fly, how it can fly and by the mid 1960s you have a flight program that has really influenced and encouraged how the space program developed its flight. there's the high range that edwards air force base these aircraft are operated and flown over and they're trapped, so just like tracking a satellite or tracking a capful, you're tracking this aircraft. by the mid to late 1960s, x15 flights are pushing that regime in terms of flying 67 miles high or 345,000 feet and flying at the high speed of mach 6 or 4500 miles per hour. the pilots of these vehicles are primarily nasa pilots or air force pilots. these are missions pushing people to believe and encouraging is this the way into space, is this what's going to be developed to make this transition? when this airplane first flies in 1959 that's only, charles lindbergh is alive. and these generations of flyers and the memory, they're seeing this so this ide

so beginning in 1959, scott crossfield, the north american research engineering test pilot makes the first flight in the x-15, this particular one, which is the number 1 x-15 i've seen where it can fly; how it can fly. and then by the mid-196os, you have a flight program that is influenced and encourage how the space program develops its flight. so there's a high-range at edwards air force base that these aircraft operate and flown over, and they're tracked, just like you're tracking a satellite or capful, you're tracking this aircraft. >>> by the mid-to-late '60s, x-15 flights are pushing that regime in terms of flying 67 miles high or 345,000 feet, and then flying the high-speed of mach 6 or 4,500 miles per hour. so the pilots of these vehicles are primarily nasa pilots or air force pilots. so these are missions that are pushing people to believe and encourage people, is this the way into space? is this what's going to be developed to make this transition. so you have to think that when this airplane first flies in 1959 is that its only -- i mean, charles lindbergh is alive, and th